Huxlow Academy is a secondary school 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 ...

with academy status, located in

Irthlingborough Irthlingborough () is a town on the River Nene in North Northamptonshire, England. It had a population of 8,900 at the 2011 census and was the smallest town in England to have had a Football League team, Rushden & Diamonds F.C., prior to the ...

Northamptonshire Northamptonshire (; abbreviated Northants.) is a county in the East Midlands of England. In 2015, it had a population of 723,000. The county is administered by two unitary authorities: North Northamptonshire and West Northamptonshire. It is ...

, England. Previously a specialist

Science College Science Colleges were introduced in 2002 as part of the now defunct Specialist Schools Programme in the United Kingdom. The system enabled secondary schools to specialise in certain fields, in this case, science and mathematics Mathemati ...

, the school converted to academy status in April 2012. However, the name only changed to Huxlow Academy in late 2022.There are just over 900 students on roll, including around 100 students in the Sixth Form, which is shared with two other local schools. It was founded in 1962 and was originally known as Finedon and Irthlingborough Secondary Modern School. The current Head Teacher is Paul Letch. He joined the school in September 2021, replacing Steve Gordon. The headteacher before Mr Gordon was Mr Mick Malton. There are 47 teachers (full-time equivalent) and 36 support staff.

Feeder Schools

The school gains its Year 7 students from primary schools in

Finedon Finedon is a town in North Northamptonshire, England, with a population at the 2011 census of 4,309. In 1086 when the Domesday Book was completed, Finedon (then known as Tingdene) was a large royal manor, previously held by Queen Edith, wif ...

, Little Addington,

Great Addington Great Addington is a small village and civil parish in Northamptonshire, England. It lies near the west bank of the River Nene, about 5 miles (8 km) east of Kettering. It consists of approximately 100 households; at the time of the 2011 c ...

and

Woodford Woodford may refer to: Places Australia *Woodford, New South Wales *Woodford, Queensland, a town in the Moreton Bay Region *Woodford, Victoria Canada * Woodford, Ontario England *Woodford, Cornwall * Woodford, Gloucestershire *Woodford, Greate ...

as well as numerous schools in surrounding villages.

Sixth form provision

The Sixth Form is part of

The East Northamptonshire College The East Northamptonshire College or TENC for short is a consortium of secondary schools in East Northamptonshire that offer Post-16 education. Structure The Consortium consists of three secondary schools, Rushden Community College based in Ru ...

(TENC), which combines the strengths of Huxlow Academy,

The Ferrers School The Ferrers School is a coeducational secondary school and sixth form with academy status, located in Higham Ferrers, Northamptonshire, England, UK. The school was founded in 1980. It previously held specialist status as an Arts College, and ...

and The Rushden Academy at post-16 level.

School performance and inspections

The school's Ofsted report in 2016 judged the school as Good in all main areas (achievement, quality of teaching, behaviour and leadership/management). The 2021 inspection rated the school inadequate. The inspectors found that racist, homophobic and sexist language is commonplace. The percentage of students achieving 5+

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 ...

including Maths and English was *2012: 59% *2013: 57% *2014: 54% *2015: 48% *2018: 56% *2019: 53% The percentage of students achieving a grade 5 or above in Maths and English at the end of KS4 was *2018: 43% *2019: 36.4% *2020: 44.5% *2021: 37%

Convictions of staff

In 2017, Emma Wright, an art teacher, was found to have allowed pupils to take innapropriate photographs for an art project. She was banned from teaching in 2022 by the Teaching Regulation Agency. In 2019, Kevin Sheppard, a former teaching assistant in the school, was arrested after child abuse footage was found on his telephone and computer.https://www.northantstelegraph.co.uk/news/crime/paedophile-irthlingborough-teaching-assistant-spared-jail-2966160He was sentenced to 16 months in prison, suspended for 2 years, and 120 hours of unpaid work. Kevin Sheppard was placed on the

sex offenders register A sex offender registry is a system in various countries designed to allow government authorities to keep track of the activities of sex offenders, including those who have completed their criminal sentences. In some jurisdictions, registration i ...

for 10 years and is subject to a sexual harm prevention order.

References

External links

Huxlow Academy website
{{authority control Secondary schools in North Northamptonshire 1962 establishments in England Educational institutions established in 1962 Academies in North Northamptonshire