Ashington Academy is a

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) ...

and

sixth form In the education systems of England, Northern Ireland, Wales, Jamaica, Trinidad and Tobago and some other Commonwealth countries, sixth form represents the final two years of secondary education, ages 16 to 18. Pupils typically prepare for A-l ...

located in

Ashington Ashington is a town and civil parish in Northumberland, England, with a population of 27,864 at the 2011 Census. It was once a centre of the coal mining industry. The town is north of Newcastle upon Tyne, west of the A189 and bordered to the ...

in the

English county The counties of England are areas used for different purposes, which include administrative, geographical, cultural and political demarcation. The term "county" is defined in several ways and can apply to similar or the same areas used by each ...

Northumberland Northumberland () is a county in Northern England, one of two counties in England which border with Scotland. Notable landmarks in the county include Alnwick Castle, Bamburgh Castle, Hadrian's Wall and Hexham Abbey. It is bordered by land on ...

History

It was established in 1960 as Ashington County

Grammar School A grammar school is one of several different types of school in the history of education in the United Kingdom and other English-speaking countries, originally a school teaching Latin, but more recently an academically oriented secondary school ...

. It became a

comprehensive school A comprehensive school typically describes a secondary school for pupils aged approximately 11–18, that does not select its intake on the basis of academic achievement or aptitude, in contrast to a selective school system where admission is res ...

in the mid 1970s and was renamed Ashington High School. In 2007 it became a

foundation school In England and Wales, a foundation school is a state-funded school in which the governing body has greater freedom in the running of the school than in community schools. Foundation schools were set up under the School Standards and Framework A ...

in administered by

Northumberland County Council Northumberland County Council is a unitary authority in North East England. The population of the non-metropolitan unitary authority at the 2011 census was 316,028. History It was formed in 1889 as the council for the administrative county of N ...

and the Ashington Learning Partnership. The school also gained specialist status as a

Sports College Sports Colleges are senior secondary schools which promote sports alongside secondary education. United Kingdom Sports Colleges were introduced in 1997 as part of the Specialist schools programme, Specialist Schools Programme in the United Kingdo ...

. Formerly an

upper school Upper schools in the UK are usually schools within secondary education. Outside England, the term normally refers to a section of a larger school. England The three-tier model Upper schools are a type of secondary school found in a minority of ...

for pupils aged 13 to 18, in September 2015 Ashington High School expanded to take pupils from the age of 11. Building works were undertaken at the school for the expansion. In November 2017 Ashington High School converted to academy status and was renamed Ashington Academy. The school is now sponsored by the

North East Learning Trust North East Learning Trust is a multi-academy trust (MAT) that operates nine schools with academy status across northern England: three are primary schools and five are secondary. One is a ITT training school. It is an exempt charity, regulated b ...

Curriculum

Ashington Academy offers

GCSEs The General Certificate of Secondary Education (GCSE) is an academic qualification in a particular subject, taken in England, Wales, and Northern Ireland. State schools in Scotland use the Scottish Qualifications Certificate instead. Private sc ...

and BTECs as programmes of study for pupils, while students in the sixth form have the option to study from a range of

A-level The A-Level (Advanced Level) is a subject-based qualification conferred as part of the General Certificate of Education, as well as a school leaving qualification offered by the educational bodies in the United Kingdom and the educational aut ...

s and further BTECs.

Notable former pupils

Ashington County Grammar School

Hilton Dawson Thomas Hilton Dawson (born 30 September 1953) is a British politician who was the Labour Party Member of Parliament (MP) for Lancaster and Wyre from 1997 until 2005. Dawson became the chairman of the North East Party in 2014, and was the par ...

, Labour Party politician

Ashington High School

Steve Harmison Stephen James Harmison, (born 23 October 1978) is an English former first-class cricketer, who played all formats of the game. Primarily a fast bowler, he represented England in 63 Tests, 58 ODIs, and 2 T20s. He also played county cricket fo ...

, England cricket player * Mark Wood, England cricket player

References

External links

Ashington Academy official website
{{authority control Educational institutions established in 1960 1960 establishments in England Secondary schools in Northumberland Academies in Northumberland Ashington