De Lisle College

De Lisle College (formerly De Lisle Roman Catholic Comprehensive School, then De Lisle Catholic Science College and sometimes called De Lisle School) is a co-educational secondary school with academy status in Loughborough, Leicestershire, England. According to the Ofsted website it has 1,274 pupils. It was designated as a science specialist school in 2003. In 2007, the LEA announced that it would charge all of those who travel to De Lisle on school buses as it was judged that Catholic children should not be entitled to free travel outwith the catchment area of their locals schools, at great taxpayers expense, for the purpose of attending a specialised faith school. Until 2012, the Roman Catholic Church subsidised the rising fees of school transport but had to withdraw in 2012 due to cuts. It draws the majority of its pupils from seven local Catholic primary schools, including Bishop Ellis, Sacred Heart, St Mary's, St Winefride's, St. Clare's, St Francis and Holy Cross Academy.

School traditions and other information

The School logo is a Stag, as reference to the deer which once roamed the land the school is built on, before it was given to the County by local landowner Ambrose March Philips De Lisle, from whom the school also takes its name.

The School Latin motto, "Quod justum, non quod utile" is often translated as "do what is right, not what is easy" but literally translates to "what is fair, not what is useful."

The School has seven houses, all of which are named after individuals who have had a profound religious effect. The houses are Nelson Mandela (black), Oscar Romero (red), Anne Frank (orange), Basil Hume (pink), St. Bernadette (yellow), Mother Teresa (blue), and Martin Luther King (green)

School buildings

On site facilities include a swimming pool, healthy-food and drink vending machines, a cashless vending system operated by the users thumbprint and personal code and a library.

Circling the perimeter of the school buildings (not counting the front field) three times is roughly 1 mile, as proved by the entire school running the "Sport Relief Mile" in 2008.

The school retains all of its original 1950s structures, however inside these are quite aged now and extensive renovation work has been put into the Science rooms, giving them a complete refit, the Art and Design & Technology rooms, (in some cases completely remodelling them). In most areas of the school, the original brass light switches can be found still in use.

New buildings

At the end of the 1990s, The Modern Foreign Languages block was built separately from the other school buildings next to the swimming pool, allowing the department to have its own buildings and rooms instead of moving between empty ones of another subject. This was dubbed the "New Block", but has now reverted to "Languages Block" with the rooms losing the "N" prefix to be replaced by the "L" (e.g. L2). In 2003/4 the Humanities block was built as an add-on to the science buildings, which gave the humanities department a lot more breathing room and moved them from the upstairs of the Science department, allowing the Science department to branch out. Two mobile classrooms have also been built taking up small portions of what used to be the main playground. These were intended as temporary units for classroom overflow, but have since become much more permanent, with new ramps and such to the doors. There are two rooms in each unit. The rooms have been recently refurbished and are now home to year 7 creating a fun and bright environment. There are now 4 mobiles, split in half to make 8 classrooms. To non-year 7 students, the mobiles serve as classrooms for an all-round general purpose, from English to Business Studies.

References

• The School Website

External links

• De Lisle Catholic Science College
• 2005 Ofsted inspection report