Millais School is a girls' secondary school for students aged 11–16 situated in Horsham, West Sussex, England. There is no sixth form and the number on roll is over 1500 and rising due to the school's popularity. In July 2011 the school was approached by the government and became a National Teaching School. The school's catchment area serves Horsham and the villages bordering the town. The Headteacher is Dr. Alison Lodwick. Elizabeth Barnes is the Chairman of Governors.
Reputation
Millais achieved Outstanding OFSTED inspections in March 2010 and again in May 2014 with every area being classified as Outstanding. Although exam results are consistently exceptional, a unique aspect of the school is its language provision with students studying a wide range including Chinese, French, German, Italian and Spanish. The exchange programme offered includes many visits abroad and the China visit, which has run for over a decade, includes visits to Beijing, Shanghai and Xian, home of the Terracotta Warriors.
History
The school's history can be traced back to 1928, when the Oxford Road Senior School opened. This was a co-educational school that in 1932 had an average attendance of 208: 116 boys and 92 girls; by 1938, this number had risen to 294: 153 boys and 141 girls. After 1944, the school split into Horsham secondary boys' and girls' schools. As Horsham Secondary School for Girls in 1951, it received pupils from Broadbridge Heath, Slinfold, Southwater, and Colgate. In 1958, it moved to its current location on Depot Road, around the corner from the site of the Boys' school, which had moved to Comptons Lane four years previously. Both schools were renamed The Forest School, and the boys' school still retains this name. In 1976, the school became a comprehensive, and the following year was renamed The Millais School. In 1980, there were 1,097 girls on roll. In September 1996, the school was designated a language college and currently teaches five languages: French, Spanish, German, Italian and Chinese. Students are taught French and one other language for their initial three years and must then continue at least one as a full course GCSE in their final two years at the school. Millais has been a training school since 2006 but in 2011 was awarded status and was successfully re-designated as such in 2015; the school operates the Millais Alliance to this end. In the last twenty years there have been only two Headteachers, Mr Leon Nettley and current Headteacher Dr. Alison Lodwick. The school is named after John Everett Millais, and his monogram, J E M, is incorporated into the school's logo. In 2014, the school experienced a deliberately set fire that badly damaged the third floor of a building. The fire was treated as criminal in nature, and a 16-year-old girl was subsequently arrested and charged with arson and intent to endanger life.
