Kingsford Community School

In 2005, the school became a Specialist Language College.[3]

In 2001, Kingsford became one of the first schools in the United Kingdom to introduce lessons of Mandarin to its curriculum. In 2007, the school became the first Confucius Classroom, a centre for promoting Mandarin Language and Chinese Culture, in London and the South-East. Subsequently, the school has worked closely with both the Specialist Schools and Academies Trust and Hanban (the National Office for Teaching Chinese as a Foreign Language) in order to develop its own Chinese learning programme and also to promote the teaching of the Chinese language and culture to other schools in the capital and South-East region.[4]

In 2006, Kingsford formed a partnership with Brighton College, one of the country's independent schools. The most notable part of this link is the HSBC funded scholarship programme that provides 2-3 students from Kingsford each year with the chance to progress into the Brighton College sixth form.[5] In 2009, George Weller, one of the first three scholars, made national headlines by gaining a place at Cambridge University to read Natural Sciences.[6] The partnership also involves Ms Joan Deslandes and Mr Richard Cairns, Head Teachers of Kingsford and Brighton, sitting on the governing bodies of each other's schools.[7] The link has been praised as being as model of partnership between the state and independent educational sectors.

The 100 Group is a collection of the 50 leading state school heads and 50 independent school heads selected in discussion between former Schools Secretary, Ed Balls, headmaster of Brighton College, Richard Cairns, and Joan Deslandes, headteacher of Kingsford Community School. The heads were chosen on the basis of their standing in their sectors, their commitment to furthering co-operation between the independent and state sectors and their public contributions to educational debate.

On 22 January 2010 Kingsford hosted the 100 Group's second annual conference, on the subject of social mobility.[8] The event included contributions from Vince Cable MP and Michael Gove MP (Secretary of State for Education). Former Prime Minister, Gordon Brown, also addressed the conference via a video message. “I want to congratulate the 100 Group for its innovative role in bringing state and independent schools together to improve education and social mobility and particularly the pioneers of that partnership, Kingsford Community School and Brighton College, whose successful alliance is a blueprint for others”, he said.

In February 2017, Ofsted rated the school in a short inspection as "outstanding " and reported on the high "number of pupils who, after leaving Kingsford, achieve very well in their A levels and go on to top universities".[9] The previous Ofsted inspection was in February 2013, when it was judged to be “Outstanding ", with the Behaviour and safety of pupils and the school's Leadership and management being classed as "Outstanding".[2]

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School Website: http://www.kingsfordschool.org.uk