Eckington School is a

coeducational Mixed-sex education, also known as mixed-gender education, co-education, or coeducation (abbreviated to co-ed or coed), is a system of education where males and females are educated together. Whereas single-sex education was more common up to t ...

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 Eckington,

Derbyshire Derbyshire ( ) is a ceremonial county in the East Midlands, England. It includes much of the Peak District National Park, the southern end of the Pennine range of hills and part of the National Forest. It borders Greater Manchester to the nor ...

in England, next to the

B6056 road New B roads in Great Britain, B roads are numbered routes in Great Britain of lesser importance than List of A roads in Great Britain, A roads. See the article Great Britain road numbering scheme for the rationale behind the numbers allocated. ...

. It has around 1,250 pupils. The school is an

academy An academy ( Attic Greek: Ἀκαδήμεια; Koine Greek Ἀκαδημία) is an institution of secondary or tertiary higher learning (and generally also research or honorary membership). The name traces back to Plato's school of philosophy ...

, and is part of the Chorus Education Trust.

History

Previous to the opening of the school, there was the Eckington County Secondary School, which opened in Halfway (in Derbyshire before 1967) in 1930, and became the Eckington Grammar School in 1945. In Eckington was also the Eckington Secondary Modern School on ''School Street''; when the

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 ...

became Derbyshire's first

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 ...

- the Westfield School - in 1957, this became Eckington Junior School. The current site started construction in 1978 and opened to students a few years later in 1983

Admissions

The school catchment area includes surrounding areas such as

Killamarsh Killamarsh is a village and civil parish in North East Derbyshire, England, bordering Rotherham to the north and Sheffield to the north-west. Killamarsh is surrounded by, in a clockwise direction from the north, Rother Valley Country Park, th ...

, Renishaw, Beighton, Ridgeway and

Mosborough Mosborough is a village in the City of Sheffield in South Yorkshire, England. Historically part of Derbyshire, the village was named after The Moss river which flows through the village. During the late 19th century and 20th century, the villag ...

. Despite the school being closer to several Sheffield residential areas (including Beighton and Mosborough) than other Derbyshire ones, the admissions policy is set in such a way to favour pupils coming from the Derbyshire feeder schools in areas such as Killamarsh, Ridgeway and Renishaw. This is because most students from the Mosborough and Beighton area attend Westfield School.

Academic performance

Eckington Comprehensive was designated a specialist

engineering college Engineering education is the activity of teaching knowledge and principles to the professional development, professional practice of engineering. It includes an initial education (Bachelor's degree, bachelor's and/or master's degree), and any ...

. This title was removed from the school. Students attain results that are well above average at

GCSE 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 ...

for Derbyshire (94% 5 A* - C, 63% including English and Maths in 2012). The results at

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 ...

were better than average. In June 2022, the school was given an "Inadequate" rating by

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 ...

Notable former pupils

* Chris Pritchard 1999, Represented Scotland at 2010 Commonwealth Games Track Cycling * Mat Welsh, Sean Long, Aaran McKenzie and Adam Savage from the band

While She Sleeps While She Sleeps are a British metalcore band from Sheffield. Formed in 2006, the group consists of vocalist Lawrence Taylor, guitarists Sean Long and Mat Welsh, bassist Aaran McKenzie and drummer Adam Savage. They are currently signed to th ...

Millie Bright Millie Bright (born 21 August 1993) is an English professional footballer who plays as a defender for Chelsea and the England national team. She previously played for Doncaster Belles, Leeds Ladies and represented England on the under-19 an ...

, footballer *

Ruth Amos Ruth Amos (born 1989) is a British entrepreneur and inventor of the StairSteady. The StairSteady is an aid to enable people with limited mobility to use their stairs confidently and safely. Amos designed it as part of a GCSE resistant materials ...

, entrepreneur and inventor *

Adam Duffy Adam Duffy (born 30 March 1989) is an English professional snooker player. Duffy qualified for the 2011–12 professional Main Tour as one of four semi-finalists from the third and final Q School event. Career Debut season As a new player on ...

, professional snooker player

References

External links

Eckington School

EduBase
{{authority control Educational institutions established in 1978 Secondary schools in Derbyshire 1978 establishments in England Academies in Derbyshire Eckington, Derbyshire