The Foundation consists of three schools. Silcoates School, situated on the edge of the village, provides a continuous education for boys and girls from seven to eighteen. Nearby Sunny Hill House School caters for children from two to seven, as does St Hilda’s School in Horbury.
While most pupils enter Silcoates at the age of seven or eleven, boys and girls are admitted at all ages. For ‘external’ applicants, entry is gained by the School’s own entrance examination, together with an academic and general report from the current school. Sunny Hill House and St Hilda’s pupils do not sit the entrance examination: for them, continuous assessment is the criterion.
The School has a very good academic record and almost all of the Sixth Form leavers go on to a university degree course. Pupils are taught in small classes, the average number in teaching groups throughout the School being just under sixteen. The academic facilities include a modern building which principally houses the departments of science, mathematics, design technology and information technology.
Silcoates enjoys a national reputation for sporting excellence. In recent years honours have been won at county and national level. Representative teams have recently been as far afield as South Africa and Canada. The facilities include a sports hall, an indoor swimming pool, hard and grass tennis courts, a squash court and a nine-hole golf course, as well as thirty acres of playing fields.
The School has a flourishing cultural life. There are over 250 individual musical instrument lessons a week. Soloists, groups, bands, choirs, ensembles and the orchestra perform at frequent concerts. Music and drama often combine in large-scale productions such as Oliver, Oh What a Lovely War, Grease, Little Shop of Horrors and Bugsy Malone. Furthermore, the drama department presents a regular, rich mixture of workshops, informal productions and full-length plays.
Among the many other activities in which pupils are encourage to become involved are the Duke of Edinburgh’s Award Scheme, the community service programme, weekend ventures, holiday trips abroad, and exchanges with French, Spanish and German children.
Established twenty years ago, Sunny Hill House School added a new Early Years Unit in 2002 which has proved a popular asset.
The third School, St Hilda’s, is housed in the former convent in Horbury, a unique setting for this feeder school with good facilities.
All three Schools have regularly publicised Open Days. If you would like to obtain a prospectus or to make an appointment to visit any or all of the Schools in the Foundation, here are the contact names and telephone numbers:
SILCOATES SCHOOL
Mr Paul Spillane, Headmaster
Tel. 291614
Mrs Hazel Cushing, Headmistress
St HILDA’S SCHOOL, HORBURY
Mrs Rosemary Mackenzie
Tel. 260706
The Silcoates School Sports Club is used by families, friends and neighbours ‘out of hours’ – in evenings, weekends and the school holidays. For information about membership please contact the Sports Club Administrator, Mrs Janet Raywood tel. 291616.
Where possible and appropriate, Silcoates School is happy to make available many of its facilities, such as the Hall, the Chapel, the dining hall (with catering), the sports hall, the swimming pool and the grounds. For details of availability and letting charges (not always applicable), please contact the Bursar.