Grainville is a forward thinking and innovative school where students enjoy learning and make good progress. We are rightly proud of our school community and the achievements of our students and staff. In 2019, Grainville students continued to make progress above island set targets. 74% of students gained A*-C (9-4) in English and 56% in maths.
Grainville School is an award winning school, duly recognised for its ongoing success. Our growing success is down to our ‘can do’ culture in which students develop skills for adult life. As a school we set high expectations, providing students with a curriculum that best meets their individual needs.
At Grainville we aim to ‘Inspire, Motivate and Challenge’ students to be their very best and place the enjoyment of learning at the centre of everything we do. Our caring and supportive school ethos is a true reflection of our commitment to develop each child, recognising their individual personality and character, whilst encouraging personal development. A UK external assessor for Leading Parent Partnership Award (LPPA) referred to our pastoral care as a ‘gold’ standard.
We offer a broad and balanced curriculum at Key Stage 3 (Years 7 – 9) and Key Stage 4 (Years 10 – 11). In Year 7 we provide students with a transitional curriculum called Horizon. Horizon provides our youngest students with a true sense of identity in a ‘school within a school’. Year 7 students have their own discreet area of the school and team of teachers creating a ‘primary’ feel. The focus of Horizon is to ensure our youngest students settle quickly into secondary school and make good progress in literacy and numeracy, and most importantly, feel happy and enjoy learning.
In Years 8 and 9 students follow a full range of subjects and begin their GCSE courses in English and mathematics in Year 9. Grainville students choose from approximately 26 option subjects in Key Stage 4. We offer a wide range of both academic and vocational subjects as well as providing students with the opportunity to undertake a practical based Work Related Learning programme with local employers. We also partner with business leaders to offer students the opportunity to study Business and Enterprise and run their own business at the Digital Jersey offices in town. In May 2019 Grainville students won every entrepreneurship award at the Jersey Student Business Challenge competing against 5 other secondary schools in Jersey.
In partnership with Highlands College, we also offer Culinary Arts, Construction, Hair, Beauty, and Automotive Studies, bespoke vocational courses as part of the Jersey Progression Award Level 1/2. Throughout Years 9-11, we aim to personalise the curriculum to best meet a student’s individual needs, hopes and aspirations. One size does not fit all and we recognise this.
Grainville is an inclusive school. We have an excellent and well–respected pastoral and support team offering outstanding care and guidance for those students that may need that extra boost to develop their self-confidence or learning needs. In addition, we also have a high potential learning coordinator who leads exciting opportunities for our more able students. Together these teams keep our students engaged in their learning and support families. All students joining Grainville will receive their first blazer and tie free of charge as membership to our family-based school community. We also offer Year 7 students the opportunity to receive a musical instrument and free peripatetic music lessons with the Jersey Music Service as part of the ‘Learning to Play’ Programme at KS3.
As a school we place a strong emphasis on developing student leadership. Students of all ages also enjoy an extensive package of sports and other activities including drama, history, modelling, and ICT clubs, debating teams, business and entrepreneurship challenges, Army Cadets, Duke of Edinburgh Award and our annual activity week. Our students’ development and achievements in these areas improve self-confidence and motivation.
In the summer 2019 we started the ‘Phase 5’ building programme costing £15 million. This will provide students with a new suite of classrooms in English, Humanities, Modern Languages and a ‘state of the art’ music block with practice rooms and a recording studio. We expect Phase 5 to be completed by July 2021.