Jarrow 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) ...

located in

Jarrow Jarrow ( or ) is a town in South Tyneside in the county of Tyne and Wear, England. It is east of Newcastle upon Tyne. It is situated on the south bank of the River Tyne, about from the east coast. It is home to the southern portal of the Tyne ...

South Tyneside South Tyneside is a metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of Tyne and Wear, North East England. It is bordered by all four other boroughs in Tyne and Wear – Gateshead to the west, Sunderland in the south, North Tyneside to the nor ...

, England admitting pupils aged 11 to 16.

History

It was opened on 6 January 2003 following the merger of Springfield Comprehensive and Hedworthfield Comprehensive, and is based at the old Springfield site. Its full title is ''Jarrow School, Engineering Excellence In Education'', the result of a competition to choose an inspirational name for the new school. In 2007 the school became 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 ...

. The former Jarrow Grammar School opened in 1911. In June 2010, this building was demolished. In October 2013 the school's headteacher Sir Kenneth Gibson became the first person to be knighted by

Prince William, Duke of Cambridge William, Prince of Wales, (William Arthur Philip Louis; born 21 June 1982) is the heir apparent to the British throne. He is the elder son of King Charles III and his first wife Diana, Princess of Wales. Born in London, William was educat ...

Springfield

Springfield was Jarrow'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 school teaching Latin, but more recently an academically oriented secondary school ...

and was formerly known as ''Jarrow Grammar 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 1975 to cater for all prospective pupils' academic abilities, in common with the other schools in the area including Hedworthfield.

Hedworthfield

Hedworthfield was designated as a complementary

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. Schools of this type continue in Northern Ireland, where they are usually ...

to Springfield's provision as the local grammar school. It was a newer development built in the 1960s at Fellgate on the outskirts of Jarrow. Extensive building work was completed in the late 1970s providing the school with better facilities for arts and crafts, a music and drama studio, a community centre and a sports complex containing badminton and squash courts, a gym and other facilities. Alongside Springfield, it was converted to a comprehensive school in 1978. However, following its redesignation, some parents still insisted on sending their children to Springfield, even though they were no longer in its catchment area; they cited concerns that an ex-secondary modern school might not measure up to the same academic standards as the former grammar school. Additionally, Hedworthfield had no provision for teaching 6th form pupils, meaning that those choosing to study subjects 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 ...

had to relocate once they had completed their

O-levels The O-Level (Ordinary Level) is a subject-based qualification conferred as part of the General Certificate of Education. It was introduced in place of the School Certificate in 1951 as part of an educational reform alongside the more in-depth ...

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 ...

. Generally, 6th form students opted to transfer to Springfield to continue their education.

Merger

Following the dwindling number of pupils for the new intake year-on-year, it became apparent that continuing to fund the running of both schools in parallel was no longer viable, so a merger into a single school was proposed. After some debate as to whether it should be on one of the existing sites, or an entirely new site funded by a

Private Finance Initiative The private finance initiative (PFI) was a United Kingdom government procurement policy aimed at creating "public–private partnerships" (PPPs) where private firms are contracted to complete and manage public projects. Initially launched in 199 ...

, the decision was taken to locate the merged school at the Springfield campus. Hedworthfield's

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 ...

results were surpassing those of the historically more academic Springfield for some time prior to the merger. Students at both schools protested, and more than 100 pupils at Jarrow School were involved in a "near riot" during the summer of 2003, during which police made three arrests.

New building

The old Jarrow School building has been replaced by a new school on the same site, funded by

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 ...

. The building contains modern and airy architecture, state of the art equipment and a sports hall. The building was constructed under contract by Sir Robert Mcalpine, under supervision of construction site manager Jim Nasium.

Academic performance

GCSE results were below the national average. However, this year's (2012) results show a significant increase in achievement with 97% of mainstream students gained 5A*-Cs and 57% of students who accessed the mainstream curriculum gained 5A*-Cs including English and maths, an increase of over 7% on last year's figure.

Notable former pupils

Jarrow Grammar School

* Joe Allen (Jarrow Elvis) world famous entertainer starring on BBC’s

40 Minutes ''40 Minutes'' was a BBC TV documentary strand broadcast on BBC Two between 1981 and 1994. Some documentaries in the original series were revisited and updated in a 2006 version, ''Forty Minutes On''. See also * Sixty Minutes (British TV prog ...

* David Blakey CBE, Chief Constable from 1991 to 1999 of

West Mercia Police West Mercia Police (), formerly the West Mercia Constabulary, is the territorial police force responsible for policing the counties of Herefordshire, Shropshire (including Telford and Wrekin) and Worcestershire in England. The force area cover ...

Steve Cram Stephen Cram, (born 14 October 1960) is a British retired track and field athlete. Along with fellow Britons Sebastian Coe and Steve Ovett, he was one of the world's dominant middle distance runners during the 1980s. Nicknamed "The Jarrow Arr ...

MBE, athlete *

Jack Cunningham, Baron Cunningham of Felling John Anderson Cunningham, Baron Cunningham of Felling, PC, DL (born 4 August 1939) is a British politician who was a Labour Member of Parliament for over 30 years, serving for Whitehaven from 1970 to 1983 and then Copeland until the 2005 ...

, politician *

Robin Donkin Robert Arthur "Robin" Donkin, FBA (1928–2006) was an English historian and geographerGlasscock : 10 May 2006 who served as a reader in historical geography in the University of Cambridge's Department of Geography in 1990.Jenkins, University of ...

, historian * Rear-Adm Sir John Fleming DSC, Director of the Naval Education Service from 1956 to 1960 *

Doug McAvoy Doug McAvoy (2 January 1939 – 12 May 2019) was a British trade union leader. He was General Secretary of the National Union of Teachers from 1989 to 2004. A teacher, McAvoy was secretary of Newcastle-upon-Tyne NUT and became a member of the ...

, General Secretary from 1989 to 2004 of the

National Union of Teachers The National Union of Teachers (NUT; ) was a trade union for school teachers in Education in England, England, Education in Wales, Wales, the Channel Islands and the Isle of Man. It was a member of the Trades Union Congress. In March 2017, NU ...

(NUT) * John Miles (John Errington), musician *

Fergus Montgomery Sir William Fergus Montgomery (25 November 1927 – 19 March 2013) was a British Conservative member of parliament for three separate periods, each time representing a different constituency. Early life Born in South Shields, County Durham, Mon ...

, Conservative MP from 1959 to 1964 for Newcastle upon Tyne East, from 1967 to 1974 for

Brierley Hill Brierley Hill is a town and electoral ward in the Metropolitan Borough of Dudley, West Midlands, England, 2.5 miles south of Dudley and 2 miles north of Stourbridge. Part of the Black Country and in a heavily industrialised area, it has a popu ...

, and from 1974 to 1997 for Altrincham and Sale West *

Alan Price Alan Price (born 19 April 1942) is an English musician. He was the original keyboardist for the British band the Animals before he left to form his own band the Alan Price Set. He was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1994 as a m ...

, musician

Springfield Comprehensive School

Alan Donnelly Alan Donnelly (born 16 July 1957) is a British Labour Party politician and former trade unionist from Jarrow. He served as a Member of the European Parliament (MEP) and as leader of the European Parliamentary Labour Party. Donnelly was first ele ...

, Labour MEP from 1989 to 1999 for

Tyne and Wear Tyne and Wear () is a metropolitan county in North East England, situated around the mouths of the rivers Tyne and Wear. It was created in 1974, by the Local Government Act 1972, along with five metropolitan boroughs of Gateshead, Newcastl ...

* Stephen Hepburn, Labour MP since 1997 for

Seymour Mace Seymour Mace is a British comedian and actor. Mace was born in 1969, and he moved with his family soon afterwards to South Africa as his father worked as a gold miner. The family returned to the UK, to Bedworth, near Coventry. Mace worked as a ...

, comedian

References

External links

Jarrow School website

EduBase

News items

Fourth worst truancy figures in England in 2005

Head quits in December 2003

Arsonist jailed for 15 years in July 2003

Cornhill campus closes in 2003

Fire on 16 February 2003
{{authority control Secondary schools in the Metropolitan Borough of South Tyneside Jarrow School buildings in the United Kingdom destroyed by arson Foundation schools in the Metropolitan Borough of South Tyneside Specialist engineering colleges in England