Our Educational Progress Department provides specialist education for pupils in Year 9, right through until Sixth Form, in line with the Special Educational Needs Code of Practice (2001).
Led by Department Head, Kate Walters, pupils requiring short or long term support during their Taunton School education can benefit from the Educational Progress Department at any point during the school year.
A supportive, expert team of teachers is available to identify and provide the relevant assistance to meet pupils’ individual educational needs and ensure their full potential is met across the curriculum. The focus is on developing learning strategies, study skills, revision and examination techniques and building confidence, self-esteem and improving grades.
Whether it’s one-to-one teaching for literacy or numeracy skills, or assistance with specific difficulties, senior students have all the support they need to excel in their chosen subjects.
We’ll continuously assess, screen and record your child’s progress to make sure you’re fully informed of how they are getting on.
And when it comes to assessment for exam access arrangements, Kate Walters is registered with the British Psychological Society and is qualified to assess your child’s eligibility for support in exams. We’re also in a position to organise Educational Psychologist assessments with a local Educational Psychologist if necessary.
For further information on fees for Educational Progress, please see our fees schedule.
Senior pupils benefit from an extensive extracurricular and enrichment programme that provides extensive opportunities to enrich their academic studies, help them achieve excellence in their chosen subjects and support applications to further education. An engagement in such pursuits also gives students the opportunity to discover their potential.
Pupils can join numerous clubs and academic societies, including the Investment Club and Young Enterprise, Chess Club, Modern Languages Society, Scientific Society and The Lisk (History) Society. These enrichment activities, which are not considered a part of the academic curriculum, enable students to develop a range of skills, including reasoning, problem solving, and working individually and as part of a team.
The musically talented and inquisitive can join a variety of Ensembles covering a multitude of musical genres and offering plenty of opportunities to perform worldwide. Ensembles include the Orchestra, Wind Band, Dance Band, Advanced Vocal Ensemble, Chapel Choir, Boys’ Choir, Rock Band, String Quartet, Stomp Percussion Ensemble, Funk Band, Saxophone Ensemble and Music Theory Classes.
And to showcase their talents, pupils can participate in local, regional, national and international events such as the Taunton Music and Drama Festival, the National Schools’ Shakespeare Festival and the Model United Nations (MUN) to name but a few.
Many pupils gain places in the National Youth Orchestra and perform in the National Youth Music Theatre, whilst others go on to successfully compete in local, regional, national and international competitions in Maths, English, Music, Drama, Poetry, Geography, Art and Design and Sports. These include the Taunton Young Musician of the Year competition, World International Debating and Public Speaking Championship, West of England Public Schools’ Tournament, Somerset Schools Championships, South West Championships and Annual World Wise Quiz (Geography).
Pupils also enjoy a huge range of fun and informative trips, from visiting art galleries and the theatre, to fieldwork and trips overseas. They also benefit hugely from visiting speakers, teachers, performers and leading academics and authors in their fields, who host master classes, workshops, recitals and lectures.
And finally, there are also many opportunities for service activities, including the Combined Cadet Force and The Duke of Edinburgh’s Award scheme.
Our Scholars’ Programme offers enrichment and extension to the curriculum for all of these Scholarship areas in weekly sessions: Academic, Sport, Music, Drama, Design Technology, Art and Computer Science. Any pupil can attend these sessions to increase their knowledge. These include Sixth Form presentations on a variety of topics.
The well-stocked and comfortably furnished Carrington Library in the Loveday building provides a quiet working atmosphere for private study and leisure reading for all Senior students. Holding approximately 14,000 volumes and 7,500 catalogued journal articles, the Library also hosts a number of online and digital resources to support research and learning across the school. Study PCs are available for internet access and the room is well served by wi-fi and plenty of power sockets for laptops and tablets.
The Library is committed to providing materials to support students across the curriculum in all subjects, expand their horizons and give access to the best literature, from classics to graphic novels. A special collection boasting the title “The Wow Factor” encourages academically ambitious pupils to read themselves interesting by exploring World and English literature as well as works of popular science and humanities subjects.
Senior Librarian Amanda Lockwood and Library Assistant Eliza Kitchen are always delighted to help pupils to find appropriate information for prep or to discuss leisure reading interests. We warmly encourage pupils to request books and talk to us about their favourite authors and topics. The library management system, Eclipse, provides an easily searchable catalogue and opportunities to write book reviews and manage your own library account. Along with the online journal archive for Hodder sixth form magazines and other targeted digital resources, the catalogue can easily be accessed by all pupils through the Library page on the Taunton School Firefly intranet.
We’re incredibly proud to say that our pupils consistently do well and achieve exceptional GCSE, A/AS Level, IB and BTEC results.
More than 40 of our pupils have been offered Oxford or Cambridge places in the last 10 years, and approximately 94% of all Sixth Formers take up university or college places either in the UK or overseas. Others join the armed forces, take up apprenticeships, or enter the workplace.