Haygrove School is a

co-educational 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) ...

Bridgwater Bridgwater is a large historic market town and civil parish in Somerset, England. Its population currently stands at around 41,276 as of 2022. Bridgwater is at the edge of the Somerset Levels, in level and well-wooded country. The town lies alon ...

Somerset ( en, All The People of Somerset) , locator_map = , coordinates = , region = South West England , established_date = Ancient , established_by = , preceded_by = , origin = , lord_lieutenant_office =Lord Lieutenant of Somerset , lord_ ...

, England, with 1,106 students aged between 11 and 16. It is located on Durleigh Road in Bridgwater.

History

The site was originally the Poplar School of Engineering And Navigation, then Dr Morgan's Grammar School For Boys, and finally Bridgwater Grammar School For Boys, before becoming Haygrove School in the 1970s when

Somerset County Council Somerset County Council is the county council of Somerset in the South West of England, an elected local government authority responsible for the most significant local government services in most of the county. On 1 April 2023 the county counc ...

implemented

comprehensive schools 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 ...

Building Schools for the Future (BSF)

In the 2000s, Bridgwater was the first town in the South West level to be selected for the UK government's

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 ...

initiative, which aimed to rebuild and renew nearly every

in England. Within Bridgwater, Building Schools for the Future was to develop four secondary schools - Chilton Trinity Technology College,

Robert Blake Science College Robert Blake Science College is a mixed secondary school in Bridgwater, Somerset, England. The school, which was established in 1956, has specialist Science College status, has 719 students between the ages of 11 and 16. The school is named ...

, East Bridgwater Community School and Haygrove School - along with two special provision schools, Elmwood School and Penrose School, at an expected cost of around £100 Million. However, in July 2010, several components of the scheme for Bridgwater schools were cancelled, including the plans for Haygrove School. In early July 2011, the school became 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 ...

. In 2017/18, the school became a Multi-Academy Trust.

Building safety issues

In 2020, as part of the Department for Education’s £3bn modular framework, set up to fast-track school construction projects, a new three-storey main school building was built at Haygrove School by Caledonian Modular, to a design by HLM Architects. In September 2022, a window collapsed, which prompted the school to close while safety inspections were carried out. In August 2023, the school was forced to find alternative accommodation because of safety fears following technical investigations in the building. Similar problems had affected two other schools built by the same firm; education minister

Nick Gibb Nicolas John Gibb (born 3 September 1960) is a British politician serving as Minister of State for Schools since October 2022, having previously held the office from 2010 to 2012 and again from 2015 to 2021. He has served at the Department for E ...

said DfE inspectors had "identified issues that related to the structural integrity of the buildings, weakening its ability for example to withstand extreme events such as high winds or a big snowfall or indeed a collision from a vehicle." The DfE blamed poor workmanship for the structural issues; the school had not been built in accordance with its design. HLM had been involved with Haygrove School and Sir Frederick Gibberd College in

Harlow Harlow is a large town and local government district located in the west of Essex, England. Founded as a new town, it is situated on the border with Hertfordshire and London, Harlow occupies a large area of land on the south bank of the upp ...

Essex Essex () is a county in the East of England. One of the home counties, it borders Suffolk and Cambridgeshire to the north, the North Sea to the east, Hertfordshire to the west, Kent across the estuary of the River Thames to the south, and G ...

. HLM said the firm had raised concerns with Caledonian's approach to the technical delivery of the designs; "Unable to resolve our differences, we parted company with Caledonian and the projects were delivered by others."

Exam performance

Percentage of students achieving 5+A*-C including English and Mathematics 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 ...

level * 2013 - 76% * 2014 - 71% * 2015 - 77% * 2016 - 69% Percentage of students achieving 5+A*-C in any subject at

level * 1999 - 62% * 2000 - 68% * 2001 - 63% * 2002 - 66% * 2003 - 67% * 2004 - 64% * 2005 - 60% * 2006 - 64% * 2007 - 65% * 2008 - 63% * 2009 - 70% * 2010 - 74% * 2011 - 77% * 2012 - 84% * 2013 - 88% * 2014 - 78% * 2015 - 84% * 2016 - 78%

Notable pupils

Chris Skidmore Christopher James Skidmore, (born 17 May 1981) is a British politician, and author of popular history. He served as Minister of State for Universities, Science, Research and Innovation from December 2018 to July 2019, and from September 2019 ...

(born 1991), cricketer

References

External links

* {{authority control Academies in Somerset Bridgwater Secondary schools in Somerset