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 Its
Origins & Development
Although a grammar school existed in the town for a while some three hundred years ago, the present Poole Grammar School dates
from 1904 when it opened as Poole Secondary School in Mount Street. For a time the school was co-educational but separated in
the late 1930's when Poole Grammar School catered only for boys and Parkstone Grammar for girls.
The school moved from its town centre Seldown site into new buildings on its present Gravel Hill site in 1966 on what was then
a heathland area on the Poole/Wimborne road. In spite of significant housing development since then, the school enjoys a
pleasant position, bordered on one side by a belt of trees and very close to protected woods and heath. Recently there have
been various extensions to the facilities at the school to meet current needs. In addition to internal modifications, a Technology
Block was completed in 1993 and an Arts Centre for Art, Drama and Music in 1997 along with two new Physics Laboratories and six
classrooms. A new wing for Mathematics and Technology was added in 2002. Sports facilities have also been improved with a full
size fitness room, climbing wall, gastro surface tennis courts and a large three-bay cricket practice nets facility part
supported by a Lottery Grant. In 2007 the school was awarded a Wolfson Foundation grant for the improvement of science and
ICT facilities and is building a new state of the art ICT/video conference suite.
The school has six networked PC computer suites, the most recent completed in 2003. All school PC's are connected to the Internet
via a broadband connection. A number of PC's are also dispersed around the school notably in Music, Media Studies, Art, Geography,
the Library, Careers and class sets of laptops in the Sciences. Years 8 and 9 complete a half GCSE in ICT and then go onto AS
ICT or Microsoft Office courses in Years 10 and 11.
The school has been designated a Mathematics and Computing College since September 2003, which has led to significant improvements
to the computer network in both capacity and coverage. A new computer suite and CISCO networking laboratory were completed in
September 2003 and we look forward to developing these areas over the coming years. In 2007 the school was acknowledged as one
of the 5 leading Maths and Computing science schools in the country and continues to build capacity in this area along with
developing an outstanding curriculum for the 21st century.
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