Acklam Grange School is a co-educational

secondary school A secondary school describes an institution that provides secondary education and also usually includes the building where this takes place. Some secondary schools provide both '' secondary education, lower secondary education'' (ages 11 to 14) ...

located at Lodore Grove, Acklam,

Middlesbrough Middlesbrough ( ) is a town on the southern bank of the River Tees in North Yorkshire, England. It is near the North York Moors national park. It is the namesake and main town of its local borough council area. Until the early 1800s, the a ...

, England. The school opened in 1952 as Hugh Bell School – later becoming Stainsby School – and is currently Acklam Grange Secondary School (after Stainsby and Oaklands School amalgamated in 1983 the combined school was renamed Acklam Grange School). It educates pupils Year 7 through Year 11. The current headteacher is Michael Laidler. The school is one of the few in the area that has continued to be a part of the

Building Schools for the Future Building Schools for the Future (BSF) was the name given to the British government's investment programme in secondary school buildings in England in the 2000s. The programme was ambitious in its costs, timescales and objectives, with politicia ...

programme after the announced spending cuts by the Government. The school received a Grade 3 (satisfactory) rating from

Ofsted The Office for Standards in Education, Children's Services and Skills (Ofsted) is a Non-ministerial government department, non-ministerial department of Government of the United Kingdom, His Majesty's government, reporting to Parliament of the U ...

in 2012. Previously a community school administered by

Middlesbrough Council Middlesbrough Council, formerly known as Middlesbrough Borough Council, is a unitary authority based in Middlesbrough in North Yorkshire, England. The authority has combined some duties with its nearby councils to form the Tees Valley Combined ...

, in July 2018 Acklam Grange School converted to academy status. The school is now sponsored by The Legacy Learning Trust.

Structure

Acklam Grange uses pastoral management schemes that manage the pupils by year group, with students being assigned a form tutor with whom they have significant daily contact and who is their contact point for any issues. This management structure was chosen instead of a

house system The house system is a traditional feature of schools in the United Kingdom. The practice has since spread to Commonwealth countries and the United States. The school is divided into subunits called "houses" and each student is allocated to o ...

. Rewards for pupils are issued in a tiered system, including

certificate Certificate may refer to: * Birth certificate * Marriage certificate * Death certificate * Gift certificate * Certificate of authenticity, a document or seal certifying the authenticity of something * Certificate of deposit, or CD, a financial pro ...

vouchers A voucher is a bond of the redeemable transaction type which is worth a certain money, monetary value and which may be spent only for specific reasons or on specific goods. Examples include house, housing, travel, and food vouchers. The term vouc ...

, and school trips. In Year 11, pupils have the opportunity to become prefects and senior prefects, where they assist in the management of the school and are overseen by a Head Boy and Head Girl.

Facilities

Facilities include: *six 2-story buildings, each housing two or more departments *a dedicated VLE *Middlesbrough City Learning Centre, a community building offering IT facilities *Acorn Centre, a specialist sport centre The new building, on the former playing fields of the old school, was constructed by contractors Willmott Dixon. It opened on 6 September 2010 and cost over £27 million. Pupil involvement in the building included landscaping, and the naming of areas through schemes such as the School Council and a specially-formed "Team 2010" group. The Acorn Centre is a £2.2 million sport and inclusion facility which was opened in late January 2005 following its official launch by

Gary Pallister Gary Andrew Pallister (born 30 June 1965) is an English former professional footballer and sports television pundit. As a player, he was a defender from 1984 to 2001 and is most noted for his nine-year spell at Manchester United from 1989 unt ...

(former Middlesbrough and England International footballer) and Councillor Hazel Pearson OBE (Chair of Governors). The development has been made possible due to receiving investment from Acklam Grange School, Middlesbrough Council, The West Middlesbrough Neighbourhood Trust (WMNT) and the Big Lottery Fund. It is a dual use facility for local school and community networks. It includes a sports hall, a fitness studio, and a classroom. The site of the old school has since been landscaped into a car parking and entrance area. Bricks from the old school were sold to pupils, parents, staff, and alumni.

Notable former pupils

Pete Firman Peter "Pete" Firman (born 26 April 1980) is an English magician, comedian and television presenter. He has appeared in magic shows on BBC1, ITV, Channel 4, Five, and Sky1. He was also the presenter of two game shows on CBBC: ''Stake Ou ...

(Acklam Grange School), comedian and magician *

Journey South Journey South were an English singing duo, consisting of brothers Andy and Carl Pemberton. They are from Middlesbrough, North Yorkshire. Initially the brothers lead a five piece rock band 'The Answer' featuring musicians from the North East of ...

(Acklam Grange School), singing duo

References

{{authority control Educational institutions established in 1952 1952 establishments in England Secondary schools in Middlesbrough Academies in Middlesbrough