Ridgewood 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) ...

with

academy An academy ( Attic Greek: Ἀκαδήμεια; Koine Greek Ἀκαδημία) is an institution of secondary or tertiary higher learning (and generally also research or honorary membership). The name traces back to Plato's school of philosophy ...

status in

Scawsby Scawsby is a suburb of Doncaster, South Yorkshire, England. It is situated approximately 2 miles north-west of the city centre on the A635 road to Barnsley close to its terminus with the A638. Geography Scawthorpe, Sunnyfields, Marr, Cuswor ...

Doncaster Doncaster (, ) is a city in South Yorkshire, England. Named after the River Don, it is the administrative centre of the larger City of Doncaster. It is the second largest settlement in South Yorkshire after Sheffield. Doncaster is situated in ...

, England. The school gained academy status in October 2011, and was 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 ...

prior to September 2015.

Catchment area

The School accepts pupils from the surrounding areas of

Sprotbrough Sprotbrough is a village in the City of Doncaster in South Yorkshire, England, west of the centre. With Cusworth to the north, it forms the civil parish of Sprotbrough and Cusworth. Sprotbrough village had a population of 3,321 at the 2011 ce ...

, Sprotbrough village (or Upper Sprotbrough) with Copley Junior School and Richmond Hill Primary School, Cusworth with Saltersgate Infants and Junior School, Barnburgh and Marr with Barnburgh Primary, and Scawsby with Rosedale Primary all leading on to Ridgewood. Pupils from Upper Sprotbrough who previously attended Outwood (formerly Adwick Secondary School), are now in the catchment area of Ridgewood.

Curriculum

Lessons: Ridgewood School teaches lessons in

Geography Geography (from Greek: , ''geographia''. Combination of Greek words ‘Geo’ (The Earth) and ‘Graphien’ (to describe), literally "earth description") is a field of science devoted to the study of the lands, features, inhabitants, and ...

Music Music is generally defined as the art of arranging sound to create some combination of form, harmony, melody, rhythm or otherwise expressive content. Exact definitions of music vary considerably around the world, though it is an aspect ...

History History (derived ) is the systematic study and the documentation of the human activity. The time period of event before the History of writing#Inventions of writing, invention of writing systems is considered prehistory. "History" is an umbr ...

, French,

Spanish Spanish might refer to: * Items from or related to Spain: **Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain **Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many Latin American countries **Spanish cuisine Other places * Spanish, Ontario, Cana ...

Art Art is a diverse range of human activity, and resulting product, that involves creative or imaginative talent expressive of technical proficiency, beauty, emotional power, or conceptual ideas. There is no generally agreed definition of wha ...

, ICT,

Science Science is a systematic endeavor that builds and organizes knowledge in the form of testable explanations and predictions about the universe. Science may be as old as the human species, and some of the earliest archeological evidence for ...

Maths Mathematics is an area of knowledge that includes the topics of numbers, formulas and related structures, shapes and the spaces in which they are contained, and quantities and their changes. These topics are represented in modern mathematics ...

, RE, PE,

Technology Technology is the application of knowledge to reach practical goals in a specifiable and reproducible way. The word ''technology'' may also mean the product of such an endeavor. The use of technology is widely prevalent in medicine, science, ...

Food Tech ''Food Tech'' is a television series on the History Channel History (formerly The History Channel from January 1, 1995 to February 15, 2008, stylized as HISTORY) is an American pay television network and flagship channel owned by A&E Networks, ...

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 ...

, and

Drama Drama is the specific mode of fiction represented in performance: a play, opera, mime, ballet, etc., performed in a theatre, or on radio or television.Elam (1980, 98). Considered as a genre of poetry in general, the dramatic mode has been ...

. The school also caters for 6th formers with courses including

engineering Engineering is the use of scientific method, scientific principles to design and build machines, structures, and other items, including bridges, tunnels, roads, vehicles, and buildings. The discipline of engineering encompasses a broad rang ...

computing Computing is any goal-oriented activity requiring, benefiting from, or creating computing machinery. It includes the study and experimentation of algorithmic processes, and development of both hardware and software. Computing has scientific, e ...

and

construction Construction is a general term meaning the art and science to form objects, systems, or organizations,"Construction" def. 1.a. 1.b. and 1.c. ''Oxford English Dictionary'' Second Edition on CD-ROM (v. 4.0) Oxford University Press 2009 and com ...

. It competes in sporting and non-sporting events including track and field running, cross country,

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

and

netball Netball is a ball sport played on a court by two teams of seven players. It is among a rare number of sports which have been created exclusively for female competitors. The sport is played on indoor and outdoor netball courts and is specifical ...

Location

Ridgewood School neighbours the New Stone Hill School, a specialist school which was formerly the Anchorage School, and before that, a

teacher training college A normal school or normal college is an institution created to Teacher education, train teachers by educating them in the norms of pedagogy and curriculum. In the 19th century in the United States, instruction in normal schools was at the high s ...

. It has an open playing field towards the back of the site alongside Ridgewood's open P.E. fields, which are both surrounded by open fields used for

agriculture Agriculture or farming is the practice of cultivating plants and livestock. Agriculture was the key development in the rise of sedentary human civilization, whereby farming of domesticated species created food surpluses that enabled people to ...

. To one side of the playing field is an abandoned railway line which runs through

and

. Travel to the school is provided via the school buses, the 540, which collects students from Sprotbrough village, the 541, which collects students from Lower Sprotbrough, and the 542, which collects students from Barnburgh. A late bus is also provided in the afternoons, which leaves at 16:00. The school lies on

Barnsley Barnsley () is a market town in South Yorkshire, England. As the main settlement of the Metropolitan Borough of Barnsley and the fourth largest settlement in South Yorkshire. In Barnsley, the population was 96,888 while the wider Borough has ...

road (A635) what is the main Barnsley - Doncaster link road which passes though villages like Hickelton, Goldthorpe, Darfeild etc.

School performance

Ridgewood Academy performs above the local authority average in Doncaster's league tables for GCSE results, achieving an attainment 8 score of 48.4 in 2022, compared to the local average of 44.7. Progress 8 is around both the local, and national average. In the school's March 2019 Ofsted report, both the lower school and sixth form were judged 'Requires Improvement'. In the most recent inspection in December 2022, the school was ranked 'Good' in all categories.

References

External links

Ridgewood School
{{authority control Academies in Doncaster Secondary schools in Doncaster Educational institutions established in 1968 1968 establishments in England