John Kyrle a popular High School with an 8-form entry and caters for 1400 students, including 300 in the Sixth Form. Students are drawn from the town of Ross and the surrounding rural area, including the Forest of Dean. The school was formed in 1979 from the amalgamation of the existing Grammar and County Secondary Schools. The school is located on the Ledbury Road about half a mile from the Market House and adjoining the dual carriageway.
The school is organised on a year basis with Form Tutors and a Head of Year responsible for the pastoral care and monitoring of students. Form Tutors stay with their tutor groups from Years 7 to 11. Years 7/8 are overseen by Lower School Heads of Year but from Year 9 a new Head of Year moves through the Upper School with his or her year group, from Years 9-11. A Head of Sixth Form oversees Years 12 and 13.
The Sixth Form is accommodated in a purpose-built block which contains a Common Room, Kitchen, Study Rooms and superb ICT facilities. Admission to Sixth Form courses is open but preference is given to those students who achieve 2 Grade 5's, in English and Maths including passes in 6 other subjects. Sixth Form courses include a wide range of AS and A2 levels. The school is consistently in the top quintile for progress at KS4, and with 60% A*-B grades at A2, in the top 10% of schools nationally for A-level.
John Kyrle High School encourages students to participate in the many of the school societies. Out-of-school activities and clubs exist to suit a wide variety of students' interests. Overseas study visits to Europe, Africa and North America and a large number of sports teams which represent the school at rugby, soccer, hockey, netball, athletics, cricket, tennis and rounders, are just some of the activities offered.
The school has excellent facilities, including sports fields, an all-weather sports surface, tennis courts, a specialist drama studio, a purpose-built art and ceramics facility, and a modern library. There are also technology workshops, a recently-opened music-technology suite and practice rooms, computer and business studies rooms, languages and scientific data-logging laboratories, a gymnasium and an on-site sports hall, which are used extensively. There is a strong tradition of music, drama and art at the school. A recent increase in student numbers has led to the installation of additional classrooms. In 2015, a brand new £1.1m Maths Centre of Excellence was opened with 10 specialist Maths classrooms and a shared study facility for A-level students and staff.
In its latest ‘Short’ Ofsted inspection in March 2017, the school’s gradings of Good overall with Outstanding Leadership & Management, Pupil Behaviour and Safeguarding and Sixth Form from September 2012 were endorsed. The March 2017 inspection feedback letter commended ‘strong senior leaders and an effective board of trustees’. It also notes:
• staff are proud to work at the school
• pupils are well behaved, polite and friendly
• because of excellent attitudes to learning and strong academic results, pupils are well prepared for life after school.
Partnerships with parents and the wider community are high on our list of priorities in order to help every student achieve his or her full potential. Our school motto is ‘Carpe Diem’ – seize the day! We try to live up to this motto every school day.