Malet Lambert High School

Malet Lambert School

Motto	Traditional Values, Contemporary Aspirations, Creative Curiosity
Established	1932
Type	Secondary school
Headteacher	Jane Disbrey
Location	James Reckitt Avenue Kingston upon Hull East Riding of Yorkshire HU8 0JD England
Local authority	Hull
Staff	160
Students	1400
Ages	11–16
Publication	Malet Mercury
Website	maletlambert.co.uk

Coordinates: 53°46′05″N 0°18′07″W / 53.76803°N 0.30192°W / 53.76803; -0.30192

Malet Lambert School is a comprehensive secondary school for 11-16 year old pupils in Kingston upon Hull, East Riding of Yorkshire. The school is situated on James Reckitt Avenue in the east of the city and its front facade stands overlooking East Park. Malet Lambert has been one of Hull's most highly regarded schools since it's opening in 1932 and continues to achieve the highest GCSE results in the city.

History

The new school was named after Canon Joseph Malet Lambert, Chairman of the Higher Education Committee, who had been prominent in the field of education in Hull for some 40 years.

It opened in September 1932 replacing the Craven Street school. Entry until 1944 was either by winning a Local Authority free place or by payment of fees. The original site was on Holderness Road but it was turned down because it was too expensive at £500.

Under the Education Act 1944 the school became that of a co-educational grammar school for pupils from 11 to 18 years of age. Entry was gained by passing the Eleven plus examination .

The original building was designed to accommodate about 600 pupils and the school inevitably had to expand in later years due to an ever increasing number of pupils. New ancillary rooms to the rear of the main hall, outdoor changing rooms and two Physics laboratorys were constructed in 1955. Followed in 1963 by a Building known as the 'Glass House' which was used for Home Economics (the building was demolished in 2000). A Sixth Form centre was constructed in 1972 and converted into a music block in 1986. A Sports Centre was built to the west of the main building in 1985 and the West Playshed was converted into an Art Block in 1995.

The 1999 Ofsted report of the school stated that the accommodation provided was unsatisfactory. The school subsquently underwent a large building project under Mrs Sheila Ireland. A new Technology block opened in 2000 following the demoliton of the existing accommodation and a building for the use of Science and Geography was opened in 2001 by Baron Dearing and named The Dearing Centre.

Malet Lambert had a Sixth form until the reorganisation of schools in Hull in 1988, which saw the disappearance of Junior High Schools and the introduction of two Sixth form colleges to cater for the whole city, of which Wilberforce College serves East Hull predominantly, and is therefore the 'natural' provision for students at Malet Lambert who wish to continue their academic education.

Present

At the moment Malet Lambert has more than 1400 pupils. There is an average of 300 students in each year and there are 5 years. The school teaches a variety of languages such as French, German, Russian, Spanish, Spanish and Chinese. French is compulsory in the first year (year 7), with further options becoming available later.

Presently Malet provides a fast track system under which pupils do most of their subject exams a year earlier than normally expected. This system is currently (2009) being used with Year 9, following the success of their predecessors last year, some of whom who are now studying A-level French due to their success at GCSE level.

The school frequently tops the Hull Schools League Table. In 2011 the school achieved a GCSE pass rate of 98% (5 A*-Cs) and 66% including Maths and English.

Malet Lambert School is being completely refurbished as part of the Building Schools for the Future (BSF) plan in Hull, which will see the school's out-buildings to the rear being demolished and a two storey rear extension connected to the existing main building, being built in their place. The existing main building will be extensively refurbished and a state of the art Sports Centre will be built to replace the existing sports hall.The Dearing Centre which was built in 2001 to house Science and Geography will be internally remodelled. Construction began in March 2011 with completion planned for September 2012.

Head teachers

The first head teacher was Mr Shoosmith. Mr Shoosmith was succeeded as Headmaster in 1951 by Mr Parslow, in 1970 by Mr Eric Davies, who died in post, and Mr Fred Grewe in 1973. Mrs Sheila Ireland was also the school's head teacher for several years before being succeeded by Mrs Jane Disbrey.

Notable alumni

• Baron Dearing, of Kingston-upon-Hull in the County of the East Riding of Yorkshire. Former chairman of Royal Mail and Chancellor of the University of Nottingham (1993–2000) and the author of the Dearing Report into Higher Education.
• Jean Rook, who was dubbed The First Lady of Fleet Street, a journalist of The Yorkshire Post, Daily Sketch and most successfully The Daily Express

References