The Helena Romanes School and Sixth Form Centre (HRS) in Essex

Essex

Essex is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in the East region of England, and one of the home counties. It is located to the northeast of Greater London. It borders with Cambridgeshire and Suffolk to the north, Hertfordshire to the west, Kent to the South and London to the south west...

, England

England

England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

, is a mixed-sex comprehensive school

Comprehensive school

A comprehensive school is a state school that does not select its intake on the basis of academic achievement or aptitude. This is in contrast to the selective school system, where admission is restricted on the basis of a selection criteria. The term is commonly used in relation to the United...

 for ages 11-18. It is situated in the rural Essex countryside, occupying approximately 35 acres (141,640.1 m²) just to the north of Great Dunmow

Great Dunmow

Great Dunmow is an ancient market town in the Uttlesford district of Essex, England in which the great Shannon Gray, also known as Hazzah Potter, lives...

. A Sports and Leisure Centre

Leisure centre

A leisure centre in the UK and Canada is a purpose built building or site, usually owned and operated by the city, borough council or municipal district council, where people go to keep fit or relax through using the facilities.- Typical Facilities :...

, shared with the local community, is located on site. HRS is a specialist Humanities College

Humanities College

Humanities Colleges were introduced in 2004 as part of the Specialist Schools Programme in the United Kingdom. The system enables secondary schools to specialise in certain fields, in this case, humanities. Schools that successfully apply to the Specialist Schools Trust and become Humanities...

with approximately 1500 pupils.

History of the School

The Helena Romanes School was named after Ms Helena Romanes, who was the first Chair of Governors. It was built in 1958 on the site it occupies today, more buildings were later added, and it became fully comprehensive in 1970. In 2004, HRS modelled its coat-of-arms, with kind permission from the town council, on Dunmow Town's coat of arms. In 2008 the school celebrated its 50th birthday on the current site.