Jarrow School

Infobox UK school
name = Jarrow School


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latitude = 54.97230
longitude = -1.48880
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established = 2003
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religion =
president =
head_label = Headteacher
head = Mr Les Jones
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specialist = Engineering College
specialist_pl =
street = Field Terrace
city = Jarrow
county = Tyne and Wear
country = England
postcode = NE32 5PR
LEA = South Tyneside
ofsted = 133725
staff =
enrollment = 1150
gender = Coeducational
lower_age = 11
upper_age = 16
houses =
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website = http://www.jarrowschool.co.uk
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Jarrow School is a secondary school located in Jarrow, Tyne and Wear admitting pupils aged 11 to 16. It was opened in 2003 following the merger of two existing schools in the area, Springfield Comprehensive and Hedworthfield Comprehensive, and is based at the old Springfield site. Its full title is "Jarrow School, Learning For Life", the result of a competition to choose an inspirational name for the new school. In 2007 the new Deputy Headteachers, Ms Nadine Powrie and Mr Christopher Roberts, completed a successful bid to grant the school specialist Engineering College status, a unique attribute for a South Tyneside school.

History

Springfield

Historically, Springfield was Jarrow's grammar school and was formerly known as "Jarrow Grammar School". It was situated near the town centre. It became a comprehensive school in 1968 to cater for all prospective pupils' academic abilities, in common with the other schools in the area including Hedworthfield. As a result, its catchment area for 11 to 16 year olds was reduced with the expectation that only more local families would be sending their children to the school from now on, although its 6th form (16 to 18 year old) pupils were admitted from a larger area.

Former pupils

* Jack Cunningham, politician.
* Stephen Hepburn, politician.
* John Miles (John Errington), musician.
* Steve Cram, Athlete.
* Alan Price, Musician
* Terry Giblin, Quantum Electron
* Sir Lea Brand, Weightlifting Champion 2008

Hedworthfield

Hedworthfield was originally designated as a complementary secondary modern school to Springfield's provision as the local grammar school. It was a newer development built in the 1960s at Fellgate on the outskirts of Jarrow. Extensive new building work was completed in the late 1970s providing the school with better facilities for arts & crafts, a music and drama studio, a community centre and a sports complex containing badminton and squash courts, a gym and other facilities. It was also featured on Channel 4 showing how a modern school works.

Alongside Springfield, it was converted to a comprehensive school in 1978 to admit pupils of all abilities. However, following its redesignation, some parents still insisted on sending their children to Springfield, even though they were no longer in its catchment area; they cited concerns that an ex-secondary modern school might not measure up to the same academic standards as the former grammar school. Additionally, Hedworthfield had no provision for teaching 6th form pupils, meaning that those choosing to study subjects at A-level had to relocate once they had completed their O-levels or GCSEs. Generally, 6th form students opted to transfer to Springfield to continue their education.

As of 2002, an older part of the school that housed the library was in an obvious state of disrepair and was earmarked for closure if funds were not made available to improve it.

Merger

Following the dwindling number of pupils for the new intake year-on-year, it became apparent that continuing to fund the running of both schools in parallel was no longer viable, so a merger into a single school was proposed. After some debate as to whether it should be on one of the existing sites, or an entirely new site funded by a Private Finance Initiative, the decision was taken to locate the merged school at the Springfield campus.

Controversy

Pupils and parents from both Hedworthfield and Springfield were unhappy about the proposal to merge them into a single school. There was much additional criticism because of the timing, coming as soon as it did after new investment at the Hedworthfield site and the uncertainty surrounding the future of its new special needs unit for autistic children. However, the merger went ahead, resulting in the relocation of the Hedworthfield pupils to the Springfield site.

Interestingly, Hedworthfield's OFSTED results were surpassing those of the historically more academic Springfield for some time prior to the mergerFact|date=February 2007. Students at both schools protested, and more than 100 pupils at Jarrow School were involved in a "near riot" during the summer of 2003, during which police made three arrests. [cite news

new building

in the early months of 2008 jarrow schools new buldings construction began, it is expected to be completed by 2010-11

last =
first =
coauthors =
title = Head of troubled school quits
work = BBC News Online
pages =
language = English
publisher = BBC
date = 2003-12-24
url = http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/tyne/3346257.stm
accessdate = 2007-10-05 ]

References

External links

* [http://www.jarrowschool.co.uk Jarrow School's website]
* [http://www.edubase.gov.uk/EstablishmentView.aspx?EstablishmentID=55999 EduBase]

News items

* [http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/4169669.stm Fourth worst truancy figures in England in 2005]
* [http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/tyne/3346257.stm Head quits in December 2003]
* [http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/tyne/3097075.stm Arsonist jailed for 15 years in July 2003]
* [http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/tyne/3023114.stm Cornhill campus closes in 2003]
* [http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/2786275.stm Fire on February 16 2003]