Orchard Mead Academy, previously known as Hamilton Community College, 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) ...

located in

Leicester Leicester ( ) is a city status in the United Kingdom, city, Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority and the county town of Leicestershire in the East Midlands of England. It is the largest settlement in the East Midlands. The city l ...

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

, taking children between the ages of eleven and sixteen.Hamilton Community College
at dcsf.gov.uk (accessed 25 June 2008) The college became an academy on 1 September 2017, joining The Mead Educational Trust /(TMET) as a

sponsored academy An academy school in England is a state-funded school which is directly funded by the Department for Education and independent of local authority control. The terms of the arrangements are set out in individual Academy Funding Agreements. Most ...

. The main school building dating from the 50s and 60s was replaced in 2014 as part of the

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 ...

programme. As part of these works Nether Hall Special School co-located with Hamilton on the Keyham Lane West site. 2502 Squadron

Air Training Corps The Air Training Corps (ATC) is a British volunteer-military youth organisation. They are sponsored by the Ministry of Defence and the Royal Air Force. The majority of staff are volunteers, and some are paid for full-time work – including C ...

also shares the school site. The school was awarded the status of a specialist

Technology College In the United Kingdom, a Technology College is a specialist school that specialises in design and technology, mathematics and science. Beginning in 1994, they were the first specialist schools that were not CTC colleges. In 2008, there were 59 ...

in September 2001.

Principal

Principals

The current principal is Mark Oldman. The school has had several changes in leadership since the retirement of the long-standing principal, John Morris.

Academic attainment

In 2013, 68% of the school's sixteen year-old pupils achieved five or more

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 ...

passes at grades A* to C, with 50% of pupils doing so including GCSE English and Maths.School's Website
at hamiltoncc.co.uk In 2014, 55% of students achieved 5 GCSE grades A*-C including English and Maths; this figure dropped to only 25% in 2015. In 2016, the school achieved a progress 8 score of -0.73, placing it in the bottom 10% of schools in England. In 2017 the school's progress 8 score was -0.78.

Concerns and criticisms

In October 2016, the school was rated 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 ...

as "Inadequate" in all areas and was placed into special measures. In June 2017, the school attracted criticism after informally excluding at least 40 pupils for peacefully protesting against cuts to education funding and compulsory redundancy of support staff. The then headteacher, Jackie Gair, refused to comment on the incident, but a statement issued by the local authority, Leicester City Council, stated that the authority "was pleased with the way the situation was managed." Many parents responded by saying they only peacefully protest against Hamilton Academy policies.

Notes

References

External links

* {{authority control Secondary schools in Leicester Academies in Leicester Educational institutions established in 1959 1959 establishments in England Educational institutions disestablished in 2017 2017 disestablishments in England Educational institutions established in 2017 2017 establishments in England