Education
First schools for children up to 11 include Midsomer Norton Primary, St. John's Church of England, Welton Primary, Longvernal Primary and Westfield Primary. In addition, St Benedicts Catholic Primary School on the edge of Midsomer Norton with a 'Midsomer Norton, Radstock' postal address, is actually part of the neighbouring Somerset County Council's education service.
There are two local secondary schools. Norton Hill School has approximately 1400 students from the age of 11 to 18. In 1999 it became a Technology College and in 2007 changed specialism to become a Maths and Computing College. In 2006 Norton Hill was also awarded a second specialism as a Language College. The school was described by Ofsted in 2007 as outstanding in every respect. The school has received both the Sportsmark Award by Sport England and Artsmark Silver Award. Somervale School which has foundation status, is a specialist Arts College. In 2008, the school was the first in Bath and North East Somerset to win the Eco-Schools Silver Award. The number of pupils on the school roll has fallen to 603. This fall prompted the school to propose a federation with nearby Norton Hill School in March 2009. This is now in place with Peter Beaven as the overall head teacher of both schools within the federation. In October 2010 the federation was confirmed as an academy. The town is served by a further education college, Norton Radstock College, in neighbouring Westfield. It serves 1000 full-time students and 5,000 part-time students. The College has steadily expanded since it opened in the 1940s to serve the Somerset coalfields. As a Community College, it has expanded its range of vocational programmes, and has become an established part of the community. The college works with local employers to provide training programmes that meet the needs of both employers and employees. This ranges from short skills workshops, through to NVQs, BTEC, Higher National Diplomas and apprenticeships.
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Famous quotes containing the word education:
“To me education is a leading out of what is already there in the pupil’s soul. To Miss Mackay it is a putting in of something that is not there, and that is not what I call education, I call it intrusion.”
—Muriel Spark (b. 1918)
“Infants and young children are not just sitting twiddling their thumbs, waiting for their parents to teach them to read and do math. They are expending a vast amount of time and effort in exploring and understanding their immediate world. Healthy education supports and encourages this spontaneous learning.”
—David Elkind (20th century)
“What does education often do? It makes a straight-cut ditch of a free, meandering brook.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)