Discover Davison High School at open evening

‘A school which successfully engages with students to bring about high academic attainment and progress, while enriching their personal development and encouraging their wellbeing’ – welcome to Davison CE High School for Girls.
Davison High School studentsDavison High School students
Davison High School students

With its successful history dating back over 200 years, Davison was delighted to be graded as an Outstanding school in September, 2016, following its statutory Church of England (SIAMS) Diocese Inspection.

In their more recent Ofsted Inspection in 2017, inspectors described students’ behaviour at Davison as ‘exemplary’.

The inspection noted that ‘The atmosphere in Davison CE High School for Girls is one of calm purpose and enjoyment of learning. The behaviour of pupils in lessons and around the school is exemplary. They are kind and respectful towards each other and their teachers’.

Davison looks forward to welcoming parents to its open evening: 5.30pm to 8pm on Tuesday, October 1Davison looks forward to welcoming parents to its open evening: 5.30pm to 8pm on Tuesday, October 1
Davison looks forward to welcoming parents to its open evening: 5.30pm to 8pm on Tuesday, October 1

The school, in Selborne Road, Worthing, prides itself on providing a happy and supportive environment where more than 1,300 girls can develop into independent, open-minded learners and thinkers.

The school is not only committed to offering its girls a varied, personalised curriculum, but also to transforming them into inspirational and responsible citizens.

And girls are extremely proud to be part of the ‘Once a Davison girl, always a Davison girl’ family.

The Davison English team is driven by creativity and an ability to cultivate a love of reading and writing, evidenced by the continuing success in their English Language and literature GCSE results, which remain well above the national average.

Davison High SchoolDavison High School
Davison High School

Ninety-one per cent of girls gained a level 4+ in English Language and 85 per cent achieved a level 4+ in literature.

Eighty-one per cent of students achieved a grade 4+ in maths.

The school’s Progress 8 figure of +0.59 is among the highest in the county.

There are plenty of opportunities for students to explore the subject outside of the classroom and bring texts alive with regular theatre trips.

Learning often goes beyond the classroom at DavisonLearning often goes beyond the classroom at Davison
Learning often goes beyond the classroom at Davison

Davison is passionate about STEAM – science, technology, engineering, the arts and maths – regularly participating in competitions and inspiring young engineers of the future.

The science department celebrated science week with a host of competitions and activities.

Young scientists were also visited by staff from Sussex University, who explored physics using their planetarium.

Engineering Club is a fantastic asset to the school. Students built a Formula 24 racing car and raced it at Goodwood and Dunsfold.

The competitions entered by the young engineers include Ricardo Antweight and LEGO Mindstorm robotics competitions, Big Bang, and the club were finalists in the Talent 2030 Engineering competition.

This year, the club is building its own custom car.

The art department is working on a great project called ‘Sea, Shoots & Shores’, which uses photography to explore issues around plastic pollution and marine conservation.

Davison looks forward to welcoming parents to its open evening: 5.30pm to 8pm on Tuesday, October 1

Learning often goes beyond the classroom at Davison

In July, 18 students and three staff members adventured to Ghana to work with the Grace Methodist Preparatory School.

The two-week adventure in Ghana was the culmination of two years’ hard work fundraising to be on the trip.

Students raised money in a variety of ways from tea mornings and curry nights to walking the entirety of the South Downs Way in one go.

While in Ghana the staff took a backward step and handed over the running of the trip to Davison’s Ghana Girls. Members of the team took turns completing daily tasks such as cooking on an open coal fire for 22 people, shopping at the local street market, ensuring they were living within budget, and promoting health, hygiene and wellbeing.

Anna Owen, Davison’s head girl and Ghana Girl, said: “I struggle to put Ghana into words with how amazing I found it. It also opened up my eyes to a world I only know about through writing and photos, I got to see it without others’ opinions and prejudices and has made me grateful for what I have.

“As well as this, it has made me want to do more to help in the future whether with fundraising or actively working, as we are all so lucky for the position we are in, when others are in

need.”

In geography, the students frequently demonstrate their skills and extend their thinking in the real world.

They have visited the Bay of Naples in Italy to explore Mount Vesuvius, Cissbury Ring, the coast to study coastal processes and Brighton to investigate urban change and its impact.

The languages department runs trips abroad to give the girls opportunities to use their French and Spanish skills in real-life settings, including Le Touquet. The school also hosted a European Day of Languages.

Davison is renowned for its fabulous music concerts, events and drama productions. The RS, music, drama and community teams lead the school’s annual Carols for the Community event, inviting guests from across the local community and offering an opportunity to get festive with Christmas favourites and mince pies.

This summer saw Davison stage a spectacular and colourful production of ‘Sister Act’ involving girls from across the year groups.

At Davison, girls can!

Davison prides itself on preparing women of the future, with a broad knowledge and understanding of the world around them.

There is never a dull moment in the citizenship studies classroom as there are always many topical news stories to discuss, including the new Prime Minister, Brexit, general elections and budget cuts. Students’ knowledge of current affairs is very impressive.

In July, the students travelled to Westminster to visit the Houses of Parliament and Supreme Court.

The careers programme at Davison addresses the needs of all pupils. There are visits to Sussex University, student ambassadors from the University of Oxford welcomed into school and an annual Apprenticeship Day held.

Davison has also established an alumnae and welcomes back former students to talk about their careers, including a dairy farmer and published author.

Davison has launched a ‘war on waste’. The school has collected over 25kg of crisp packets and these have been sent to Terracycle, which turns them into picnic benches and planters.

Over 70kg of batteries have been collected to recycle, and eco sculptures are to be created in the school using plastic bottles stuffed with unrecyclable plastic.

Over the summer, there was a major installation of 964 solar panels at Davison to significantly reduce its carbon footprint. The panels will not only save the environment, they will also save the school £5,000 in year one and will give students another curriculum opportunity as they will be able to track live data.

The school trophy cabinet is full to capacity after a year of many sporting achievements in the PE department and a record number of girls getting involved in clubs and teams.

The department has achieved the School Games Sports Mark Silver Award.

There were wins in netball, with all year groups placing first, second or third in their leagues and tournaments.

The athletics team was crowned overall winner of the area district cross country competition and came first in the district and Sussex school games year-seven indoor athletics.

Dance continues to be a beacon at Davison, attracting many talented girls who get involved in the Davison Dance group and take the opportunity to develop their passion for dance through a variety of external performances.

The gymnastics squad continued its success and competed all over the country, gaining multiple places on the podium at local, regional and national competitions.

There were several Davison girls who competed in trampolining events and they went onto success at the South East schools competition.

A letter from the head teacher...

I see education as the key to unlocking the future potential of all our young learners and truly believe Davison offers this education within a caring and supportive ethos, underpinned by strong Christian values.

Our school has been the provider of choice for literally tens of thousands of girls over more than 200 years. We do not blindly bow to the latest accountability measures or squeeze our curriculum, at the detriment of some subjects, merely to optimise our performance in examinations.

Quite simply ensuring our children are healthy, confident, happy and engaged is more important to us than anything else.

In view of this, I am delighted to report that the most recent Progress 8 result, for the 2019 examination series, places Davison amongst the highest in the whole of all West Sussex maintained schools and academies.

We believe this measure of great progress has been achieved through a very committed approach which ensures that each child can flourish under the care, support and guidance of our dedicated staff.

This year we are celebrating our best-ever results:

• 79 per cent of students achieved STANDARD passes at GCSE grade 4+ in both English and mathematics

• 91 per cent of students achieved at least a STANDARD pass (Grade 4) in English

• 81 per cent of students achieved at least a STANDARD pass (Grade 4) in mathematics

Grade 9 is only achieved by around 2-3 per cent of students nationally. We are really pleased to announce that 125 top grade 9s were achieved, with 58 students each achieving 5 or more grade 7-9 passes.

These are new school records along with all other headline data released this year.

A special mention must go to the following four students who achieved nine Grade 9 GCSE grades: Amy Cooke, Eden Green, Sofia Lepadatu and Tania Lepadatu.

We would also like to commend the achievements of a further 12 students who achieved at least nine GCSEs at Grade 7 or higher: Eve Allison-Ward, Maisie Bristow, Polly Butler, Jasmine Cacioppo, Isabel Clack, Anna Clay, Ella Collard, Willow Hamilton, Ruby Maynard, Ananya Mehta, Eliza Ozolina and Charlotte Palmer.

Chris Keating

Head teacher

Davison High School will welcome parents to its open evening from 5.30pm to 8pm on Tuesday, October 1