Oriel High School
Address
Maidenbower Lane Crawley , West Sussex , RH10 7XW England
Coordinates	51°06′23″N 0°09′27″W / 51.1063°N 0.1576°W / 51.1063; -0.1576
Information
Type	Community school, with SpLD Centre.
Motto	Empowered to Achieve, Inspired to Excel (2009 – present) Opening Windows of Opportunity (2004–2009)
Established	2004
Founder	Gillian Smith
Local authority	West Sussex County Council
Department for Education URN	134042 Tables
Ofsted	Reports
Chair of Governors	Ben Chubb
Headteacher	Philip Stack
Gender	Mixed
Age	11 (Secondary Entrance) to 18 (6th Form)
Enrolment	1497 (Oversubscribed)
Capacity	1450
Houses	Africa, Asia, America, Australasia
Colour(s)	Oriel Purple
Website	http://www.oriel.w-sussex.sch.uk/

Oriel High School is a maintained community secondary school and sixth form for pupils aged 11 to 16, and 16 to 18 respectively. It opened in September 2004 as part of a reorganisation of secondary education in Crawley, catering for just 370 pupils in years 7 and 8. It was expected to grow to around 1450 pupils by 2009. It then grew to roughly 1600 students by 2015, and expanded once more to 2100 students in 2021, significantly oversubscribed due to only 1450 places avaliable. This has reduced by 500 since 2024, but did lead to some classes being taken in the main hall due to class size ^[1] this continues to date.

Oriel is rated "Good" by Ofsted as of 2019, but is ranked as second to last out of all schools in Crawley, with less than half of all students achieving a level 5 in English, Maths, & Sciences, significantly decreasing compared to it's history.^[2] The school has wheelchair access and an accessible lift to all areas, one of the only schools in the area to be fully accessible. Oriel High School has had significant global news coverage for controversial leadership statements, racism, and learning culture.

See Controversy.

Recently a teacher who was head of a pastoral house admitted sexual activity with a child whilst in the car park of the school.

See Criminality

The school is located at Maidenbower Lane in the Maidenbower neighbourhood of Crawley, West Sussex. With Student and Vehicular access from Matthews Drive, and pedestrian access from Furnace Green via a railway underpass as part of the 20-21 link,^[3] part of National Cycle Route 20.

Photos of the school, one of the main entrance at Matthews Drive, Maidenbower (left) and one of the main Evacuation Assembly Point facing Fenchurch Road (right).

The school was opened by West Sussex County Council in early 2004 following a wholesale review of education provision in Crawley. After more than twenty years of providing education in a three-tier structure of first and middle Schools, with pupils transferring to secondary school at age twelve, the council reverted to the more traditional two-tier structure. Part of the plan for accommodating the larger number of pupils in secondary education in the town was to build a new school for the newly developed neighbourhood of Maidenbower. Two primary schools and one middle school had operated in the neighbourhood for some time, but secondary pupils had to travel to Hazelwick School or Thomas Bennett Community College

Oriel High School opened to pupils in September 2004, initially for an intake of around 370 pupils in years 7 and 8. The school continues to accept a new entry of pupils in each academic year, gradually increasing the provision offered. A sixth-form opened in 2008, with a full 11–18 school operating by 2009.

Famous alumni include Dr Emily Rickman operations scientist for the European Space Agency (ESA) at the Space Telescope Science Institute.^[4][5]

The school is organised into Learning Communities – all four of which are named for continents. Pupils are taught by specialist teachers, and also belong to a Learning Mentor Groups, which are supervised by a Pastoral Leader.

Most pupils attending the school live within the catchment area, and transfer from one of the local junior schools: Maidenbower Junior School, Pound Hill Junior School, and Milton Mount Primary School. Other pupils travel from nearby neighbourhoods such as Three Bridges, Furnace Green, Tilgate, Broadfield, Ifield and Bewbush. The school is managed by a team of 10 senior management.

Each year, Oriel High School selects a Student Headship Team, usually composed of three boys and three girls. The team is appointed by their predecessors after a selection process involving written applications and interviews. Their main responsibilities include organising end of term assemblies; leading the prefect team; representing the student voice to the headteacher and governing body of the school. They also participate in community events on behalf of the school, and speak from a student's point of view at meetings of parents.

Oriel is divided into four Learning Communities which are led by an Assistant head teacher.

• 2004–2009 : Gillian Smith
• 2009–present : Philip Stack

Oriel Sixth Form is the newest Sixth Form college in Crawley for students aged 16 to 18. It opened in September 2008 as part of the development and expansion of Oriel High School. The sixth form caters for Year 12 and 13, delivering over 40 courses at Advanced Level, GCSE and BTEC level for students.

The Sixth Form was opened by West Sussex County Council in 2008 following the opening on Oriel High School in 2004. When Oriel first opened it only catered for Years 7 and 8, thus taking it 4 years to grow to allow a Sixth Form to open. In 2008 the Sixth Form only had one year group, Year 12. But in 2009 all year groups in both Oriel High School and the Sixth Form were full, taking it 5 years to reach full capacity after the school was founded by Ms Gillian Smith as the first Headteacher. With her task of establishing a fully maintained school complete she retired from education in July 2009 after taking a Civil Service role for HM Government.

The Sixth Form is not organised into Learning Communities like Oriel High School, however they are split in half for supervisory purposes only. The Headteacher and both Deputy Heads are the most senior member of staff for Oriel Sixth Form, however there is an appointed Assistant Head of Sixth who is directly in charge. Students are taught by specialist teachers, and also belong to a vertically-mixed Personal Tutor Group, which are supervised by a Senior VIth Tutor.

Oriel Sixth Form does not require its students to wear the Oriel Tartan uniform, the Oriel Sixth Form committee agreed that students must adhere to a smart casual attire. Occasionally the Head of Sixth will request students to dress formally.

Oriel High school has had a number of recent controversies reported worldwide, including a recording of Phillip Stack (Headteacher 2009–present) telling students to "go to hell" in 2022,^[6] criticism of the school for showing a football game instead of GCSE Mocks in 2022^[7] and teachers using racist language.^[8] Further negative media attention was centered on the school when their twitter account was 'hacked' and the headteacher was suggested to join a pornographic site.^[9] All together negative image may have contributed to Oriel falling from first place to second to last for School Rankings in Crawley, only higher than Thomas Bennett Community College, the worst in West Sussex.^[10]

In 2024, Miss Rebecca Betteridge, Head of the "Asia" House from 2018 to her resignation in 2020, plead guilty to "Adult abuse of position of trust – sexual activity with a boy 13 – 17" contrary to the Sexual Offences Act 2003. She plead guilty to an incident in which she sexually assaulted a student whilst in the school car park. Miss Betteridge accepted a criminal caution by Sussex police on 9 March 2020.^[11]

Concerns were raised regarding the school due to the criminal act and that Miss Betteridge was trained to be a teacher by the school. Miss Betteridge was therefore a product of the school's culture and quality of training.^[11] The school was soon thereafter subject to an Ofsted inspection.

In March 2024, a Professional conduct panel, sitting on behalf of the secretary of state found :

Whilst employed as a teacher at Oriel High School, Crawley between around July 2016 and July 2020:

1. Miss Betteridge engaged in and/or developed an inappropriate relationship with Pupil A, including by: a. providing a personal email address to Pupil A in or around April 2019; b. engaging in email correspondence with Pupil A via a personal email address from around April 2019; c. engaging in correspondence with Pupil A by text message from around April 2019;

2. On or around December 2018 to May 2019 Miss Betteridge engaged in inappropriate physical contact with Pupil A, including by kissing Pupil A on one or more occasions;

3. Miss Betteridge's conduct as referred to at 3. above constituted a criminal offence, for which Miss Betteridge accepted a caution in or around March 2020;

4. Miss Betteridge's behaviour as may be found proven at 2. and 3. above was conduct of a sexual nature and/or sexually motivated;

Miss Betteridge was subsequently banned from teaching indefinitely.

The report significantly criticised the lack of prompt referral, with 2 years lapsing between Miss Betteridge's resignation from the school, and the subsequent referral to the Teaching Regulation Agency. The report noted that Miss Betteridge was trained by the school in 2015, qualified in 2016, and promoted in such a way that she was responsible for the wellbeing and safeguarding of over a quarter of the students at the school.

The report went on to describe the lack of support given to staff by senior leaders at the school as a potential factor.

Oriel High School has never released a statement or acknowledged their role in the employment, training, or development of Miss Betteridge.

• Official website