Sydney Russell School

[EduCativ]

We are a large school but we pride ourselves on maintaining the caring atmosphere often associated with smaller schools. Each student is placed in a form group under the guidance of a tutor, who gets to know each child very well. Our new students each year tell us that they find the school welcoming and secure. We have a broadly equal number of boys and girls and a full range of abilities.
We believe parental co-operation and support are key factors in educational success. Form tutors, heads of year, subject teachers, and senior staff are all happy to be contacted about individual students. Often, an early word between parent and school can prevent any worries from developing into a problem. The school has a very active Parent Teacher Association, which organizes fund-raising and social events which make a major contribution to the life of the school.
We have an excellent team of teachers, well-qualified academically, hard-working, and committed to ensuring that every student achieves his or her best. Many of our staff have taught in the area for a long time and know the community well. Just as importantly, we have been able to attract new young staff who bring fresh ideas and expertise.
There are no mixed-ability classes at Sydney Russell. Students are placed in one of three bands according to their ability. All their lessons take place with students of similar ability to themselves. Teachers are therefore able to push every child at the right pace, allowing high-ability students to move ahead very quickly and students who need extra support to get the help they need. Each student’s progress is regularly reviewed to make sure they are in the correct band.
Students in the top 30% of the ability range are placed in one of our special “fast-track” tutor groups. Selection for the fast track takes place in December of Year 7, based on students’ Primary School results and their performance during their first term at Sydney Russell. Fast track students have all their lessons together and have the opportunity to take certain public examinations earlier than the rest of their year group. To remain on the fast track, students must maintain extremely high standards of attendance, behavior, classwork, and homework.
Homework tasks are set and recorded in the student diary so that parents can check what has been given and support their child’s work. There is a supervised Homework Club, which runs after school in the Library, for students who wish to make use of school facilities to help them with their work.
We keep a very careful check on each student’s progress as they move up through the school. Parents receive a full written report on their child once a year, as well as more frequent summary grade cards giving a quick snapshot of current performance. Every year group has a Parents’ Evening at which individual subject staff talk about progress within their lessons. Parents are also invited to an annual meeting with their child’s form tutor to discuss overall targets and progress.
The great majority of Sydney Russell students are well-behaved and work hard. They are rewarded with praise, merit marks, certificates, prizes, and commendations in assembly. Those few students who choose to break the rules must face the consequences of their actions, which can include misconduct marks, isolation, detention, and eventually exclusion from school. We take a particularly strong line in dealing with any signs of bullying.
There has been a major investment in computer facilities in recent years, which is ongoing. There is a whole-school network, with a networked computer in every teaching room providing CD-ROM and internet access, and several computer teaching rooms with 30 work-stations in each. Teaching rooms are rapidly being equipped with digital projection equipment to enable staff to make maximum use of online teaching materials with a whole class.
The Library at The Sydney Russell School is a showpiece of the Borough. It is staffed by two full-time librarians and open at both breaks and after school. The librarians supervise a homework club between 3 PM and 4 PM. The librarians can advise students and help them to find a book they will enjoy or with their research. On the ground floor are the Junior and Young Adult fiction sections. They are well stocked with both classic and modern fiction. On the mezzanine is the Non-Fiction section. The librarians are assisted by a team of student volunteers. The librarians run the Accelerated Reader Programme. Students do an initial test to identify their reading level all the books in the library have labels indicating their level of difficulty so students can select appropriate books. When they finish a book they complete an online quiz and the results can be used to monitor their progress in reading. Students are awarded certificates based on the number of books they read and the progress they make.
There has been a particular emphasis on providing high-quality Science accommodation. We have twelve well-equipped specialist laboratories, all with easy access to technician support and equipment. We have a large, state-of-the-art performance studio, complete with air-conditioning, video projection facilities, and the latest audio equipment. This makes an ideal rehearsal and performance space for both Dance and Drama.
Our P.E. facilities are excellent. As well as an extensive sports field, our Leisure Centre (which is open to the public at weekends and in the evenings) provides a huge multi-purpose Sports Hall, a weight training room and high¬quality changing rooms.
The first school on this site was Dagenham County High School which was finished in 1935. In those days, students had to pass a test in Year Six to go there. In 1970 comprehensive schools were introduced to Barking and Dagenham and several schools, including Dagenham County High, joined together to become Parsloes Manor Comprehensive School. The building we call Lester was added in the 1970s. In 1990 Parsloes Manor was joined by two other schools to become The Sydney Russell School. Roger Leighton became its second Headteacher in 1996. As the school became even more successful and popular, it had to expand and, in 2013 a multi-million-pound building program was completed. There are now five buildings on the site as Kingsley, Durrant, and Norris have been added. In 2015, the school became an academy.
Sydney Russell was a man who did much good work in Dagenham. He was born in 1906 and trained to be a Methodist minister. In 1932, he became Warden of Kingsley Hall, a community center on Parsloes Avenue. For many years he was also Chairman of Parsloes Manor’s governing body. He died in 1988 and the new school was named in his honor.
Our buildings are named after the people who founded Kingsley Hall. Kingsley and Lester were named in honor of Muriel, Doris, and Kingsley Lester, members of a wealthy family who set up Kingsley Hall to help the less fortunate. In 1931, Mahatma Gandhi, the man who led the movement to make India independent from the British Empire, stayed at Kingsley Hall. Durrant and Norris were named in honor of Arthur Durrant and Phoebe Norris who were youth workers at Kingsley Hall.
In December 1946 they invited Germans who were being held in a prisoner of war camp in Harold Wood to attend a service at the Hall, then have Christmas lunch with local people. In 1948 they invited some teenagers from Witten in Germany to stay with Dagenham families and attend Dagenham County High School for two months. Dagenham has been “twinned” with Witten ever since. The appearance of the school has changed a lot since 1935. We have the largest classrooms of any school in the country thirty-two computers in each one and in addition to the three floors of I.T. rooms and a sports hall with Olympic standard flooring. Excellent facilities are matched by high-quality teaching and pastoral care.
Most of our students go to university when they leave school, including to Oxford, Cambridge, London, and The London School of Economics, institutions with a world-class reputation. Former students have followed careers in law, medicine, business, sport, and acting. They include the late film star Dudley Moore and former Archbishop of Canterbury, George Carey. While they were students at Dagenham County High School many years ago, two members of the dance group Diversity attended The Sydney Russell School much more recently.
Although the school has undergone many changes since 1935, our values remain the same. Our emphasis is on academic achievement, high standards of behavior, personal development, and recognition of our responsibility to the wider community of Dagenham. Currently, we are the only secondary school in Barking and Dagenham designated as Outstanding by Ofsted. Your child is joining a popular, successful, and dynamic school. Encourage him or her to take full advantage of what we have to offer and to contribute to making it even more successful.

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