Click on the green play button to see pictures taken by Herald photographer Gerald Thompson.

Larger versions of the photographs provided by Durrington High School can be seen by clicking on the View Gallery link.

The school, situated in The Boulevard, has been thoroughly transformed during the last five years, becoming a place where more and more parents are desperate to send their children to.

In fact, it is now over-subscribed year after year and is in the top three schools in West Sussex which receives the most number of "first- choice" requests – testament to the incredible journey the school has embarked on.

But as Sue Marooney, the head teacher, points out, there is no room for complacency.

"I am very proud of the school. Our results have improved year on year for the last five years, and we are confident this will carry on.

"We are always on a journey to improvement and we have markers along that journey.

"As we continue to improve as a school, it means the opportunities inside and outside of school can increase for our students. Complacency is not acceptable.

"We are always thinking about how we need to change to meet the needs of the students of today and tomorrow and we want our students to be able to achieve what they wish to achieve."

Moving forward

The minute people step through the doors, many remark on the school's energy and its sense of moving forward.

Uniform plays an important part of school life at Durrington High, with youngsters in year eight now wearing blazers.

Mrs Marooney said: "We are proud of our uniform.

"We decided to phase blazers into year eight, but a significant number of our older students also wear them.

"They have helped improve our community atmosphere quite dramatically."

Another successful addition to school life is the introduction of companies – there are six of them, each named after inspirational people, and comprising tutor groups from each year.

Students wear ties with different-coloured seahorses on them, depending on which company they belong to, the seahorse being the school's logo.

"We introduced the companies in September, 2006, and when we had an Ofsted inspection in March, 2007, inspectors felt students had embraced the idea superbly well."

Community ties

Involvement with the community is important to the school and its links have increased dramatically since achieving business and enterprise status.

It has recently held events in aid of local charities, including a talent show called C Factor and an Auction of Promises.

The auction raised a whopping £2,500 for St Barnabas.

Students also have the opportunity to go on educational school trips, including ski trips, art visits to Barcelona and a history trip to Poland and Auschwitz.

"It is about the student's whole experience at school, not just examination results," Mrs Marooney said.

Sporting prowess

The PE department carries on to thrive, with numerous wins for the volleyball, athletics, basketball, dance, football and rugby teams.

An all-boys dance team, called Offside, was also recently invited to perform at the Laban Centre in London.

"Our all-boys dance group is fantastic as it breaks down all the stereotypes," Mrs Marooney said.

Dancers also swept the board at the recent Rock Challenge in Crawley, scooping numerous awards and being crowned overall winners.

Drama students are really challenged with the opportunity to perform pieces usually studied only by A-level or degree students, including Marat/Sade.

Students at Durrington High are encouraged to have a voice and there are many outlets through which they can express their opinions, including the school council, eco team, travel plan group and school newspaper.

"The children understand fully this is their school," Mrs Marooney explained.

"They are confident and are willing to stand up and give their opinions.

"There are two groups of students who have asked for an appointment to see me about ideas they have had and two children in year eight have put together a newspaper and presented it to me."

Working with parents

Parents are listened to and the school continues to work with them.

It has just launched a new scheme called Living with Teenagers, which allows parents to meet, discuss issues which affect them and try to help each other find solutions.

An issue being looked at is cyber bullying.

School staff are passionate about being there and as its reputation continues to become stronger, more and more people are requesting to become part of the team.

Durrington High is a real success story.

"Self-belief is important.

"When I came here five years ago, and we started out on our journey, people didn't think we could do it, but that has now changed," said Mrs Marooney.

For more of this feature see the Worthing Herald published Thursday, April 3.

To order copies of photographs in the picture gallery click here.

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