Corelli College

Corelli College
Motto "Learning together, enjoying success"
Established 1954
Type Academy
Principal Zara Tippey
Location Corelli Road
Shooters Hill Road

London
SE3 8EP
England
Coordinates: 51°28′10″N 0°02′37″E / 51.46947°N 0.04353°E / 51.46947; 0.04353
Local authority Greenwich
DfE URN 100185
Ofsted Reports
Gender Coeducational
Ages 11–19
Houses Democracy, Equality, Independence, Solidarity, Trust and Sixth Form
Colours Purple and Black
Website www.corellicollege.org.uk

Corelli College is a secondary school and sixth form with academy status located on Corelli Road and near the Kidbrooke area of the Royal Borough of Greenwich in southeast London. The school has a specialism in the arts.

Early days as Kidbrooke School

The buildings were planned in 1949 and subsequently redesigned (by architect Charles Pike) in 1951 to meet spending cuts. It first opened as Kidbrooke School in 1954 (and was officially opened on 15 June 1955 by Countess Mountbatten of Burma) as one of the first purpose-built comprehensive schools in Britain.[1]

Originally a girls school, the school was built on the site of a former aerodrome by London County Council for "the children of the heroes of the second world war", with the school colours based on the blue and grey uniform of the Royal Air Force.[1] The founding Headteacher for 19 years, Dame Mary Green "was so proud of the fact that the local people called her pupils 'Smarties', thinking it was a reflection on their intelligence. In fact, the youngsters knew the nickname came from the different-coloured berets they had to wear outside school - a different colour for each of the eight houses. She was determined to ensure that all the pupils in her charge fulfilled their potential."[1]

Kidbrooke started admitting boys after 1982 as the school began competing with other comprehensives in the area.[1]

Attack on student

On 24 January 1997 students from nearby Thomas Tallis School attacked and murdered one of the school's pupils, CJ Rickard, 14, with a 17-inch machete.[2]

Jamie's School Dinners

Kidbrooke School was the focus of TV chef Jamie Oliver's campaign to improve school dinners in Britain as part of his TV series Jamie's School Dinners. Jamie Oliver's campaign was particularly important at a school like Kidbrooke, where the majority of students receive free school dinners and thus rely on it as their main source of nutrition. Nora, the head cook, had success with her book "Nora's Dinners" and left the school on the 24 May 2007.

Specialist arts college

From September 2005, the school was re-designated as a single Specialist Arts College specialising in Media, Drama and Art.

Corelli College

Though the specialist colleges programme has ended, and the school converted to academy status in September 2011 and was renamed Corelli College,[3] it continues to maintain a specialism in the arts.

Notable alumni

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 Smithers, Rebecca (2005), "Gold Standard". The Guardian, 12 July 2005. Retrieved: 18 October 2015.
  2. - CJ's Murderer to Appeal Against Sentence, New Shopper, 20 June 1998. Retrieved: 18 October 2015.
  3. Corelli College: Inspection report, 2012 - Archived here. Retrieved: 18 October 2015.

External links

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