Ormiston Denes Academy is a

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) ...

with academy status located in the northern outskirts of

Lowestoft Lowestoft ( ) is a coastal town and civil parish in the East Suffolk district of Suffolk, England.OS Explorer Map OL40: The Broads: (1:25 000) : . As the most easterly UK settlement, it is north-east of London, north-east of Ipswich and sou ...

in the

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...

county A county is a geographic region of a country used for administrative or other purposesChambers Dictionary, L. Brookes (ed.), 2005, Chambers Harrap Publishers Ltd, Edinburgh in certain modern nations. The term is derived from the Old French ...

Suffolk Suffolk () is a ceremonial county of England in East Anglia. It borders Norfolk to the north, Cambridgeshire to the west and Essex to the south; the North Sea lies to the east. The county town is Ipswich; other important towns include Lowes ...

. It has around 1000 students aged 11 to 16.Suffolk County Counci
School Profile
Retrieved 13 November 2009. It is situated on Yarmouth Road, the A47. It is also home to a sports training centre open to the public.

History

Located in the historic parish of St Margaret's, the academy's history dates back to 1910 when it was founded as a replacement for a secondary fee-paying day school established in 1904. Built by Brown and Kerr its main building is a Grade II Listed Building with a Queen Anne facade. The school was originally designed to accommodate 320 pupils with the site comprising eleven acres of which seven were playing fields. For the first nine years the school was called the Lowestoft Municipal Secondary School and its aim was to provide a ‘sound education for boys and girls between the ages of 10 and 18’. In 1914, the first school magazine, ''The Lowestoftian'' was published, detailing the events of the school. Although it has seen many changes over time ''The Lowestoftian'' continues to be published to this day. From 1920 the school was renamed the Lowestoft Secondary School before becoming known as Lowestoft Grammar School from 1945 under the changes of the 1944 Butler Education Act. In June 1940, soon after the start of the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

and as a result of the danger from air raids on Lowestoft, 327 pupils together with the Head Master and 21 members of staff were evacuated to Worksop. The return to Lowestoft commenced in 1943 with eventually all returning by July 1944. After the end of the war there was a population boom, which caused a rapid rise in the number of pupils attending the school. This necessitated a utilitarian building programme in order to accommodate the new pupils. This expansion of the school buildings continued intermittently for the next 30 years. The school became a comprehensive in 1971 and was renamed The Denes High School. In September 2004 it was designated by the Department for Education and Skills as a

specialist school Specialist schools, also known as specialised schools or specialized schools, are schools which specialise in a certain area or field of curriculum. In some countries, for example New Zealand, the term is used exclusively for schools specialis ...

as a

Business and Enterprise College Business and Enterprise Colleges (BECs) were introduced in 2002 as part of the Specialist Schools Programme in England. The system enabled secondary schools to specialise in certain fields. Schools that successfully applied to the Specialist Schoo ...

.Specialist Schools Home, Department for Education and Skills. Retrieved 27 September 2007. In September 2011 the school became an 11 to 16 school as part of the reorganisation of schools in Lowestoft by Suffolk County Council. Pupils in years 7 and 8 joined the school after the closure of eight middle schools in Lowestoft. The opening of

Lowestoft Sixth Form College Lowestoft Sixth Form College is a sixth-form college in the town of Lowestoft in the English county of Suffolk. The college opened in September 2011, replacing sixth form provision in the existing high schools in Lowestoft. The college is a membe ...

also meant that the school lost its role in the Lowestoft 6th consortium, which had operated as a shared sixth form between the high schools in the town. As The Denes High School, it was rated as 'Inadequate' in all four criteria following an

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 ...

inspection in September 2012 and was placed into special measures.Carroll A (2012
Lowestoft high school placed on special measures
''

Eastern Daily Press The ''Eastern Daily Press'' (''EDP'') is a regional newspaper covering Norfolk, northern parts of Suffolk and eastern Cambridgeshire, and is published daily in Norwich, UK. Founded in 1870 as a broadsheet called the ''Eastern Counties Daily ...

'', 30 November 2012. Retrieved 2016-09-05.Papworth A (2016
New headteacher at Ormiston Denes Academy after principal quits
''Lowestoft Journal'', 5 September 2016. Retrieved 2016-09-05. The headteacher, Peter Marshall, who joined the school in October 2012, led the conversion to academy status in 2013 as part of the

Ormiston Academies Trust Ormiston Trust is a charitable trust based in London, England. It is a grant-making trust that chiefly assists schools and organisations supporting children and young people. The trust was established in the memory of Fiona Ormiston Murray who d ...

and the school was renamed Ormiston Denes Academy. The school was taken out of special measures in March 2015 but saw little improvement in its examination results in 2016. On 5 September 2016, Peter Marshall left the school after resigning to "explore other career opportunities closer to home".Quoted in Papworth A (2016) ''op. cit.'' He was replaced by Ben Driver as interim principal until January 2017, when Mr. Driver was appointed principal.

Notable alumni

The Denes High School

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Lowestoft Grammar School

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* Sir Brian Bailey OBE, chairman from 1980-93 of

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* Maurice Baker, managing director from 1967-71 of Woolworths Ltd *

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, ''Guardian'' journalist * Keith Beckett FREng, Vice President Engineering from 1982-97 of Pilkington PLC * Prof John Bleby, vetProfessor John Bleby, veterinary surgeon - obituary
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References

External links

Website of Ormiston Denes Academy
*
EduBase
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ormiston Denes Academy Secondary schools in Suffolk Grade II listed buildings in Suffolk Academies in Suffolk Grade II listed educational buildings Ormiston Academies