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Holly Lodge Foundation High School College of Science
A Leading Edge and Trust School
Supported by the Smethwick Health and Wellbeing Education Trust

Holly Lodge has a long and distinguished past and has been through a series of radical changes in recent times. These have paved the way for the establishment of a new school that will transform the learning experience for the young people and their families in Smethwick as part of Sandwell’s Building Schools for the Future programme.

Holly Lodge serves an area with high levels of deprivation. Its roll has risen significantly over recent years and now stands at about 1,250. We have the highest percentage of pupils with English as an additional language of all Sandwell high schools.

Since 1992, standards have risen significantly. In 2008 27% of pupils achieved five or more A*-C grades with English and Mathematics – 1% lower than FFT(D) and the second best result in the history of the school but below the government’s floor target of 30%. There were 48% of pupils with five or more A*-C grades, a record for the school. 98% of pupils achieved 1+ A*-G grades (another record).

We have a strong commitment to equal opportunities and aim to achieve within our staffing a balance of men and women and a variety of ethnic groups at each level of responsibility. We have introduced interactive whiteboards and digital projectors into most departments. All teaching staff have laptops. A developing Extended Services programme is providing an ever increasing range of opportunities for pupils, their families and the local community. As an Investor In People we run a staff wellbeing programme. New staff are supported through an induction programme and then further developed through a wealth of opportunities in school. A Teaching and Learning Forum for staff keeps teaching and learning and staff development and training at the forefront of everything we do. As an active partner in the Sandwell South 14-19 Consortium we now offer a range of Level 2 and 3 courses at Holly Lodge with over 30 of last year’s Year 11 ‘staying on’ and another 20 or so students joining us in common timetable slots. We are on target to at least double these numbers from September 2009 and to have a 150+ place sixth form by 2011 when the ‘new’ BSF school opens.

We became a Science College and a Leading Edge School in September 2004. Since April 2005, we have adopted Health as an additional specialism.

The future for Holly Lodge is both challenging and exciting! We are in the first phase of Sandwell’s Building Schools for the Future programme with a ‘new’ school due to be opened in 2011. This will be on the renamed Smethwick Learning Campus and will be a beacon of regeneration in the area. We became a Trust School on 1st February 2009.

Visitors are always welcome to the school where they will receive a warm welcome from staff and pupils alike.