Highfields 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 ...

secondary school A secondary school, high school, or senior school, is an institution that provides secondary education. Some secondary schools provide both ''lower secondary education'' (ages 11 to 14) and ''upper secondary education'' (ages 14 to 18), i.e., b ...

and

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

located in

Matlock, Derbyshire Matlock is the county town of Derbyshire, England. It is in the south-eastern part of the Peak District, with the National Park directly to the west. The spa resort of Matlock Bath is immediately south of the town as well as Cromford lying fur ...

, England. At the time of its September 2012 Ofsted inspection, the school had 1175 pupils (male and female) on roll aged 11–18, with 215 in the sixth form. It is split across two sites in the town 1.8 miles apart.

History

Highfields was created in 1982 as a comprehensive school by the merger of Ernest Bailey's

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 Latin school, school teaching Latin, but more recently an academically oriented Se ...

and Charles White

Secondary Modern School A secondary modern school () is a type of secondary school that existed throughout England, Wales and Northern Ireland from 1944 until the 1970s under the Tripartite System. Secondary modern schools accommodated the majority (70–75%) of pupil ...

. The site of Charles White in Starkholmes became the 'lower site' of Highfields, while Bailey's was converted to

Derbyshire Record Office The Derbyshire Record Office, established in 1962, is the county record office for Derbyshire, England. It holds archives and local studies material for the County of Derbyshire and the City of Derby and Diocese of Derby. It is situated in Matlo ...

, previously housed at the

county council A county council is the elected administrative body governing an area known as a county. This term has slightly different meanings in different countries. Australia In the Australian state of New South Wales, county councils are special purpose ...

's headquarters. A new site was built to house the new 'upper site' at Lumsdale.''Matlock's Schools in Earlier Times''
28 May 2012. Retrieved 4 June 2012. David Marshall was headmaster from the school's founding in 1982 until he was replaced by Ian Dalrymple-Alford. Today, Marshall is remembered in the name of the Lumsdale site's David Marshall Sports Hall. Dalrymple-Alford left the school in January 2006, being replaced by Dr Ramsey Tetlow.Highfields’ head to retire
''Matlock Mercury''. 1 October 2010. Retrieved 4 June 2012. The school was a specialist ' performing arts college' from 2005, until the

specialist schools programme The specialist schools programme (SSP), first launched as the Technology Colleges programme and also known as the specialist schools initiative, specialist schools policy and specialist schools scheme, was a government programme in the United ...

was ended in 2010. The school retains an emphasis on its performing arts credentials. Dr Tetlow in turn retired in 2011, being replaced by Eddie Wilkes. Due to retirement, Peter Cole & Ben Riggott became headteachers in 2016. They were then succeeded by Andrew Marsh in 2018. The school has been criticised, amongst several other British schools, for making use of the

Brain Gym Brain Gym is a proprietary brain training and body movement programme. It is widely considered to be pseudoscience. Organization "Brain Gym International" is the trade name of the Educational Kinesiology Foundation, a California nonprofit co ...

'mental exercise' programme, which claims that 'the brain is a

muscle Muscle is a soft tissue, one of the four basic types of animal tissue. There are three types of muscle tissue in vertebrates: skeletal muscle, cardiac muscle, and smooth muscle. Muscle tissue gives skeletal muscles the ability to muscle contra ...

' and that a set of hand and leg movements and chest rubs can promote learning. Commonly described as

pseudoscience Pseudoscience consists of statements, beliefs, or practices that claim to be both scientific and factual but are incompatible with the scientific method. Pseudoscience is often characterized by contradictory, exaggerated or unfalsifiable cl ...

, physician

Ben Goldacre Ben Michael Goldacre (born 20 May 1974) is a British physician, academic and science writer. He is the first Bennett Professor of Evidence-Based Medicine and director of the Bennett Institute for Applied Data Science at the University of Oxford ...

has described the programme as 'ludicrous' while Teacher of the Year award-winner Philip Beadle described it as 'moonshine...you'd probably get as much benefit from taking a Brain Gym book and booting it around the room'. Previously a community school administered by

Derbyshire County Council Derbyshire County Council is the upper-tier local authority for the non-metropolitan county of Derbyshire in England. The non-metropolitan county is smaller than the ceremonial county, which additionally includes Derby. The county council is ba ...

, in October 2021 Highfields School converted to academy status. The school is now sponsored by the East Midlands Education Trust.

Uniform

The school uniform consists of a grey blazer with the school logo, plain black trousers or skirt, and a white shirt accompanied with a tie that bears the school logo. Alternately, a full-length shirt may be worn with a red tie with a school logo. Sixth form students have no set uniform but have to stick to a dress code defined as 'smart office wear'. The school PE kit includes navy blue shorts, royal blue knee-length socks and either a royal blue rugby shirt with a reversible white strip or royal blue polo shirt.

Sites

'Lower site' is situated at Starkholmes and is the site used by year 7 and 8 students.2010–11 Staff Handbook
Retrieved 29 October 2012. The building used to be the site of Charles White Secondary Modern School but was converted in 1982 (See

history History is the systematic study of the past, focusing primarily on the Human history, human past. As an academic discipline, it analyses and interprets evidence to construct narratives about what happened and explain why it happened. Some t ...

). The site underwent a £1.2m refurbishment in 2004. 'Upper site' is situated at Lumsdale and it is used by years 9–11 and sixth form. The site was built in 1982 especially for the new school.

Ofsted inspections and performance

The school was inspected in full by

Ofsted The Office for Standards in Education, Children's Services and Skills (Ofsted) is a non-ministerial department of His Majesty's government, reporting to Parliament. Ofsted's role is to make sure that organisations providing education, training ...

in 2006. This determined that the school was 'satisfactory... with some good features'.2006 Ofsted report
Retrieved 29 October 2012. This contrasts to the 1999 report which said 'On balance, the school has more strengths than weaknesses'.1999 Ofsted report
Retrieved 29 October 2012. The history department was inspected in 2007. The subsequent report found the department to be 'outstanding' – achieving a grade 1.2007 Ofsted report (History department)
Retrieved 29 October 2012. Furthermore, Highfields was the third best-performing school in Derbyshire at A-level in 2007 according to BBC league tables and the seventh best-performing at

GCSE The General Certificate of Secondary Education (GCSE) is an academic qualification in a range of subjects taken in England, Wales, and Northern Ireland, having been introduced in September 1986 and its first exams taken in 1988. State schools ...

, higher than their normal placings in these league tables. In a February 2009 whole-school inspection, the school found to be 'satisfactory' (grade 3) – below its 'good' (grade 2) target – but with improvements since the last inspection.2009 Ofsted report
Retrieved 29 October 2012. It also noted the school's performance, citing that 'standards are above average'. Following a 2011 whole-school inspection, while still classing the school's sixth form as 'good' (grade 2), the school as a whole was determined to be 'inadequate' (grade 4)2011 Ofsted report
Retrieved 29 October 2012. and was given ' notice to improve'. Despite Ofsted's criticisms, the school recorded its best-ever A-level results in August 2012, with a 99.6% pass rate and 60% of results at grade B or above. The school also saw a 7% increase to 70% of students earning 5 A*-C grades at GCSE. Subsequently, a September 2012 follow-up inspection found the school to have improved markedly, achieving a 'good' (grade 2) for the first time in over 6 years. September 2012 Ofsted report
Retrieved 29 October 2012.

Racism study

Highfields took part in a study in 2004 which was reported by the Department of Education. The interest arose from the school choosing to look at diversity despite its very low ethnic mix. A theatre group presented plays that centred on racism in towns like Matlock. The study led to collaborations with dissimilar schools in

Derby Derby ( ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority area on the River Derwent, Derbyshire, River Derwent in Derbyshire, England. Derbyshire is named after Derby, which was its original co ...

that were funded by an interested company.

Student protest

On 24 November 2010, Highfields students staged a demonstration as part of a nationwide student protest day against the government's scrapping of the

Education Maintenance Allowance Education Maintenance Allowance (EMA) (; LCA) is a financial scheme applicable to students aged between sixteen and nineteen and those undertaking unpaid vocational or non-university academic learning in the United Kingdom (except England) and w ...

and decision to raise the cap on university tuition fees. Up to 300 students walked out of classes and marched, escorted by police, first to the

Local Education Authority Local education authorities (LEAs) were defined in England and Wales as the local councils responsible for education within their jurisdictions. The term was introduced by the Education Act 1902, which transferred education powers from school bo ...

headquarters at County Hall and then onto Matlock town centre.

Sports Leadership Academy

The school's Physical Education department was presented with the

Queen's Award for Voluntary Service The King's Award for Voluntary Service, previously known as The Queen's Award for Voluntary Service, is an annual award given to groups in the voluntary sector of the United Kingdom and the Crown Dependencies. Until 2022, awardees were announce ...

– the equivalent to an MBE for organisations – in June 2010 by HRH

Prince Edward, Duke of Kent Prince Edward, Duke of Kent (Edward George Nicholas Paul Patrick; born 9 October 1935) is a member of the British royal family. The elder son of Prince George, Duke of Kent, and Princess Marina of Greece and Denmark, he is a grandson of George ...

, accompanied by Olympic badminton player Donna Kellogg, for its ' Sports Leadership Academy', co-ordinated by Jayne Allen.Highfields Sports Leadership Academy receives The Queen's Award for Voluntary Service
''Derbyshire Sport''. June 2010. Retrieved 4 June 2012. Sports Leaders UK later announced the school's academy was to be the first ever academy to reach 'World Leader' status for leadership and volunteering.A dream come true for Jayne thanks to Sainsbury’s customers
''Matlock Mercury''. 7 June 2012. Retrieved 14 September 2012.

Olympic torch

The school was visited by the

Olympic torch relay The Olympic torch relay is the ceremonial relaying of the Olympic flame from Olympia, Greece, to the site of an Olympic Games. It was introduced at the 1936 Summer Olympics in Berlin, as a way for Adolf Hitler to highlight the Nazi claim of Arya ...

in June 2012, the school forming the relay's 'lunch stop' as it traveled through Derbyshire. A commemorative stone at the school marks the occasion. A student carried the torch later that day in Derby, whilst the academy's coordinator carried the Paralympic torch.

Notable alumni

Isy Suttie Isobel Jane Suttie (; born 11 August 1978) is a British musical comedian, actress and writer. She played Dobby in the Channel 4 sitcom ''Peep Show'', and in 2013 won the gold Sony Radio Academy Award for her radio show ''Pearl And Dave''. Ear ...

, comedian, actress, writer and musician * Ben Ottewell, singer-songwriter of the indie-rock band Gomez, winners of the 1998

Mercury Prize The Mercury Prize, formerly called the Mercury Music Prize, is an annual Music award, music prize awarded for the best album released by a musical act from the Music of the United Kingdom, United Kingdom or Music of Ireland, Ireland. It was cre ...

* Matt Chandler and Tom Marriott, guitarist and trombonist respectively, of the funk band Pest * Christopher Peach, who achieved notoriety as a 15-year-old when his underage dealings on the

stock market A stock market, equity market, or share market is the aggregation of buyers and sellers of stocks (also called shares), which represent ownership claims on businesses; these may include ''securities'' listed on a public stock exchange a ...

were discovered as a result of

Black Monday Black Monday refers to specific Mondays when undesirable or turbulent events have occurred. It has been used to designate massacres, military battles, and stock market crashes. Historic events *1209, Dublin – when a group of 500 recently arriv ...

Naughty Boy
''The Independent''. 5 November 1995. Retrieved 19 December 2013. *

Ellie Watton Ellie Watton (born 10 June 1989) is a retired English international field hockey player who played as a forward for England and Great Britain. She made her first international appearance against South Africa on 4 February 2013. She retired from ...

, retired

field hockey Field hockey (or simply referred to as hockey in some countries where ice hockey is not popular) is a team sport structured in standard hockey format, in which each team plays with 11 players in total, made up of 10 field players and a goalk ...

player and winner of Olympic, European & Commonwealth medals

References

External links

School website
{{authority control Secondary schools in Derbyshire Academies in Derbyshire Educational institutions established in 1982 Matlock, Derbyshire