Kingsford Community School was officially opened on a temporary site in September 2000. In that year the school comprised of just a one year intake of two hundred and fifty pupils and 14 staff. Each year thereafter, the school expanded to include a new year group of three hundred pupils until the school reached its full complement of 1500 pupils in 2004.
The school moved to the current site in Beckton, in October 2002 when its new building was opened. Kingsford has since established itself as a centre of learning within the community and has contributed to making enormous and significant differences to the prospects of young people, their families and indeed the whole community. Our academic results have constantly made steady progress and provided value added. With a forward looking ethos and a clear strategic direction, the school has led educational innovation. The exploration and promotion of progressive curricular and pedagogical methods relevant to contemporary developments in our society and internationally, combined with educational collaboration with the independent sector, are important areas in which Kingsford is well known to have taken the appropriate and exemplary initiative. Our sporting prowess is well established within our Borough of Newham, in London and the UK. The school has long held the Sports Mark status, whilst our budding football teams have been regular London Cup winners as well as being National Cup finalists. Other achievements include, Arts Mark Gold, Investors in People, Healthy Schools, Cisco Academy and Financial Mark status as well as the International School Award. Not least is the achievement of our pupils in a range of Mandarin speaking and debating competitions, an area in which the school has not only excelled, but also won a number of national awards and consequently been invited to debate with schools here in the UK, in Europe, in the USA, in China and the House of Lords.
In July 2005, the day before London was named as the host city for the 2012 Olympics, Kingsford Community School became a Specialist Language College, and soon after that was appointed as the first Confucius Classroom in the world representing London and the south east of England. This was not only a much appreciated acknowledgment of the excellent, cutting-edge developments in the teaching and learning of Mandarin and Chinese studies in our classrooms and beyond, but indeed an enormous enhancement and endorsement of our vision. Most recently during his state visit, the school was invited to attend a meeting with Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao in recognition of the impact of our work in this area.
Over the years the school has established and benefited from close educational links locally, nationally and internationally. Our mutually beneficial educational relationship with schools in both the state and independent sectors as well as in China, Denmark, Norway, Kenya, Ghana, Spain, France and the United States have enabled our pupils to participate in regular immersion courses and international work experience.
Kingsford is proud of how its British identity is celebrated and respected within its particularly diverse community and consistently encourages pupils and staff to promote this, whilst always recognising how the presence of a range of language, cultural and religious knowledge and experiences has a role to play in building a cohesive and vibrant learning environment where all its members—pupils, staff and parents respect and value each other, feel safe and are motivated to learn and make a contribution as effective citizens. In playing our part in building a cohesive and productive British society we have sought to promote the importance of educational achievement and cultural literacy, whereby we expound the values of the various communities where each of our histories started, whilst always recognising our accountability for our collective educational aim and duty, which is to ensure that all achieve their best and fulfil their potential.
