Twyford

The Piggott School in Wargrave, near Twyford is celebrating this month after being awarded an additional specialist status in humanities, by the Department for Education and Skills (DfES) – the first school in the Wokingham district to achieve more than one specialism.

And, it was a case of a double celebration too, as the school was also re-designated as a language college for a further four years. The school has also been asked to take a leading role in offering advice to other schools locally and nationally. Key members of staff are regularly invited to give presentations on the success of the Piggott School as a language college.

Since becoming a language college in 2001, the school has achieved highly in all subjects and has developed an international dimension, which has gained recognition both nationally and worldwide. Through innovative curriculum projects, undertaken in science, food technology and design technology (to name just a few), an international element has been incorporated into all subject areas linking classes to schools in another country to work on similar projects. So far, the Piggott School, Wargrave, Twyford is in regular contact with schools in over 40 countries across the world including Latvia, Japan and Peru.

Year groups have also been assigned a continent of the world and each year they undertake a project and conduct an assembly for the whole school to learn more about particular countries. Students at the Piggott School are able to communicate with students from different countries using a number of different mediums such as video-conferencing, web-cams and email.

The government announced in December 2005 that the Piggott School, Wargrave, Twyford had been granted a second humanities specialism in English and geography from March 2006. This status brings an additional £90,000 per year in grant funding for the school over the next four years. The funding will strengthen English and geography teaching and will provide a more diverse and enriched curriculum improving literacy and communication skills for all students across all subjects.

The , Wargrave, Twyford school will also extend its already excellent working partnership with primary and secondary schools in the Wokingham district and will continue to share good practice with schools nationally through its work with the other specialist schools and academies trust.

Community links will continue to thrive and there are already well-established links with the adult education community programme, which will now be extended to include daytime classes. Some local businesses are already taking advantage of the translation facilities on offer at the school and students are being sponsored by forward thinking local companies who recognise the benefits of supporting young talent, the workforce of tomorrow.

Headteacher Dr Keith Atton said: “We are delighted to have received Department for Education and Skills agreement for our future plans. This is an exciting opportunity to further develop what we offer to our students and our local community”

Wokingham District Council’s executive member for children’s services Cllr Frank Browne said: “Dual specialist status is an asset not only to the pupils at the school, both current and future, but to the local community and businesses too who can take advantage of this status. The international dimension at the school is very interesting and I am impressed with how the school encourages their students to have links with other pupils around the world.

“The Piggott School is the first in the Wokingham district to have achieved dual specialism and is a real credit to all those who have been involved with the bid. This is well-deserved recognition for all students, teachers and support staff at the school. I want to congratulate the school on its success on attracting a further specialist dimension.”

Wokingham District Council ~ Twyford