School Report focuses on schools across Hampshire and Southampton - today the spotlight's on Mountbatten School

Mountbatten School opened in 1969 and it was named after the late Lord Mountbatten who lived at Broadlands House in Romsey until he was assassinated by the IRA in August 1979.

The school’s emblem is Lord Mountbatten’s royal garter and the school obtained special permission from the Queen to use it.

Students at the Whitenap Lane-based school are placed in five house groups and all are named after Royal Navy ships associated with Lord Mountbatten.

The executive head teacher is Mrs Heather Mcllroy, (pictured above) who is also chief executive officer of personal best education.

The head of school is Christopher Cox who is in charge of the day to operations and the school curriculum.

In total the school has in the region of 100 classrooms and the same number of teachers.

Mrs McIlroy said "We are very proud of our work in comprehensive education, welcoming children of all abilities, interests and aptitudes.

Mountbatten is both a traditional and contemporary school. Our values are encapsulated in our motto ‘We care, we respect, we achieve’ and so the promotion of honesty, reliability, commitment and pride in self and one’s work is central to our mission.

"Our curriculum, currently under review, is increasingly dynamic and designed to prepare our young people for a rapidly changing world. We expect all students to work hard to achieve their personal best and we provide a safe, stimulating and happy environment conducive to achieving this.

"Our staff are dedicated to helping students get the most from their time with us and unstintingly give of their time after school, at weekends and holidays to provide the best educational experience possible.

"Year on year students’ academic success increases and this is reflected in our SAT and GCSE results.

"We are determined to sustain excellent examination performance and continue to complement this with high quality personal development opportunities."

Mountbatten is an award-winning school.

The awards under its belt include High Performing Specialist School of the Year in 2008, 2009, 2010 and 2011, International Schools Award in 2007 and 2011 and the Ofsted Lead Behaviour School 2008.

Pupils have the use of many hi-tech facilities including drama, broadcasting, and recording equipment in the Lantern Theatre where a wide-range of public activities are also staged.

The school has its own community sports hall with a state of the art fitness suite and community lounge.

Each faculty area of the school has dedicated IT suites and iPads on trolleys are also available for students if they need them.

It also has two large purpose-built modern kitchens where students can cook produce grown in the school’s vegetable garden.

Mountbatten has many clubs and societies for students to get involved with including a book club, music, drama, sports and health and fitness activities.

Pupils ‘bang the drum for youth music.

The school even has its own big band which appears in concerts around the area including at the Turner Sims Hall in Southampton and students take part in the BBC’s nationwide annual School Report Day when they become journalists for the day creating reports and film footage of news stories in their own makeshift newsroom at the school.

In May students staged their own Question Time in the lead up to the general election with Romsey and Southampton North candidates also taking part in the debate.

Within the school’s sprawling grounds is a full size artificial grass football pitch which can be split into five-a-side pitches, along with rugby pitches, tennis courts and table tennis facilities for students to use during lessons and break times.

Students have access to cutting edge technology.

Mountbatten School is at the forefront of modern communications.

The school boasts Wi-fi connections and fibre optic connections across the entire comprehensive campus for pupils to use throughout the day on work and study time.

Nine IT suites are dotted across the school including three main computer rooms. The others are in the maths, science, art and design and music departments.

It total there are around 800 computers.

These include Apple Macs and Dell computers. The computers are available to students at any given time and some of them have been custom-built for the school.

On top of this, the school has several hundred Apple iPads which are available.

Computers are used for school projects and students can also use them for homework.

Arty youngsters have won national recognition for their work.

The Art Department supports and encourages students to regularly attend after school sessions to support their work.

The most popular session is the TEA (Tuesday Evening Art) Club, which supports KS4 in GCSE and BTEC studies.

Students benefit from one to one support with their work, whilst enjoying tea and biscuits.

Each week students use the art facilities to complete their own work and enter competitions such as the National Students Art Exhibition.

This year art students from Year 9 and Year 10 were selected to take part in the National Students’ Art Exhibition in London. 

Students are are encouraged to develop their science and engineering skills

The Science Department, keen to evoke a passion for science in children from an early age, started a science club in 2013 for primary children in years 5 and 6.

It has helped students with the transition from primary to secondary education, and led to an increase in the amount of students going on to joining the STEM (science, technology, engineering and maths) club once they are in year 7.

The aim is to develop awareness of some of the career opportunities available in STEM related industries. and for participants to develop leadership, team working and project management skills. 

PART of the Mountbatten school grounds has been transformed thanks to some elbow grease by staff and students.

A group of Year 7s, led by Mr Smart and Mrs Osborn, have turned a neglected part of the school grounds into a vegetable plot.

With the site cleared and soil dug into raised beds, donated vegetable and fruit plants, including peas, beans and rhubarb, were put in.

Tomato plants were planted both inside and outside the generously donated greenhouse to enable students to see the difference in growth.

A small shed was donated and the students are delighted that they now have somewhere to store their new equipment.

The students are thoroughly enjoying the experience, and are looking forward to harvesting the fruits of their labour.

Mountbatten School Y7s get ready for PE

THE Mountbatten School, along with PBEd (Personal Best Education) host a variety of sports clubs. There is no shortage with a range of clubs and sports to try.

They include athletics, cricket, football and table tennis.

In addition basketball and girls’ football clubs are also well attended. However, rugby, hosted by PE teacher Ian Rice, has won special recognition.

The club involves more than 100 students.

It has proved so successful the school has been identified as a Rugby Football Union Work Strand School.

That recognition has enabled funding and opportunities for the development of coaching and leadership.