The Rodillian Academy (formerly Rodillian School) is a mixed

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) ...

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 Lofthouse,

West Yorkshire West Yorkshire is a metropolitan and ceremonial county in the Yorkshire and Humber Region of England. It is an inland and upland county having eastward-draining valleys while taking in the moors of the Pennines. West Yorkshire came into exi ...

, England. The school has 1,556 pupils aged between 11 and 18. The school also has

Specialist Arts College An Arts College, in the United Kingdom, is a type of specialist school that specialises in the subject fields of the performing, visual, digital and/or media arts. They were announced in 1996 and introduced alongside Sports Colleges to England in ...

status. The name 'Rodillian' is derived from the name that was given to former pupils of the Rothwell Grammar School.

History

The school was originally built in 1933 as Rothwell Grammar School to serve the needs of children in Rothwell and the surrounding areas. Edwin Robert Manley was headteacher from 1933 to 1965. He was active in local politics, and he wrote and self-published ''Meet the Miner''. In 2008 it moved into a £93 million building. The school became an academy in summer 2012.

Rodillian Multi Academy Trust

In December 2013 the Rodillian Academy was approved by the

Department for Education The Department for Education (DfE) is a department of His Majesty's Government responsible for child protection, child services, education (compulsory, further and higher education), apprenticeships and wider skills in England. A Department ...

to become an academy sponsor. The Rodillian Multi Academy Trust was formed in September 2014 with the Rodillian Academy acting as the lead school in the trust that also includes

The Featherstone Academy The Featherstone Academy is a Mixed-sex education, coeducational secondary school with Academy (English school), academy status located in Featherstone in the English county of West Yorkshire. Formerly known as Featherstone High School, it becam ...

Inspections

In its most recent

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 2016, the school's overall effectiveness was found to be 'good'. Both the effectiveness of the school's leadership and management and the personal development, behaviour and welfare pupils were judged to be outstanding.

Buildings

In September 2008, Rodillian moved to a newly built school as part of the Leeds BSF Project. At the new school are a lecture theatre, a library, sporting facilities including fitness centres and gyms, dance halls and PE classrooms. Part of the new build is a children's centre that allows for use of the school's sporting and educational facilities by children up to five years of age.

Rugby

The school's main sport was

Rugby Union Rugby union, commonly known simply as rugby, is a close-contact team sport that originated at Rugby School in the first half of the 19th century. One of the two codes of rugby football, it is based on running with the ball in hand. In its m ...

Academic performance

The school's academic performance has improved over the last 5 years and it is now regarded as one of the most improved schools in the North of England. Rodillian has improved its exam results from 19% 5 A*-C including English and Maths in 2007 to 49% in 2010, 48% in 2011 and in 2012 64% The school has also improved its percentage of pupils gaining 5 A*-C from 35% in 2007 to 87% in 2011.

Notable alumni

Rothwell Grammar School

Jack Birkenshaw Jack Birkenshaw, (born 13 November 1940) was an English cricketer, who later stood as an umpire and worked as a coach. Cricket commentator, Colin Bateman, stated "Jack Birkenshaw was the epitome of a good all-round county cricketer: a probing ...

MBE – Cricketer *

Richard Newby, Baron Newby Richard Mark Newby, Baron Newby (born 14 February 1953), known popularly as Dick Newby, is a British politician, who has been the Leader of the Liberal Democrats in the House of Lords since September 2016. He served as the Deputy Government ...

OBE – Liberal Democrat peer 101st Captain of the Sovereign's Body Guard * John N. Reeve – Professor of Microbiology at

Ohio State University The Ohio State University, commonly called Ohio State or OSU, is a public land-grant research university in Columbus, Ohio. A member of the University System of Ohio, it has been ranked by major institutional rankings among the best publ ...

Ian McNaught-Davis Ian McNaught-Davis (30 August 1929 – 10 February 2014) was a British television presenter best known for presenting the BBC television series ''The Computer Programme'', '' Making the Most of the Micro'' and '' Micro Live'' in the 1980s. He was ...

– mountaineer and broadcaster *

Jean Denton, Baroness Denton of Wakefield Jean Denton, Baroness Denton of Wakefield, CBE (29 December 1935 – 5 February 2001) was a British businesswoman, racing driver and Conservative Party politician. Life Jean Moss was born in 1935, the daughter of Charles and Kathleen Moss (born ...

– racing driver, businesswoman, Conservative government minister * Sir Hugh Fish CBE – Chairman of the

Natural Environment Research Council The Natural Environment Research Council (NERC) is a British research council that supports research, training and knowledge transfer activities in the environmental sciences. History NERC began in 1965 when several environmental (mainly geogr ...

from 1984–88, President of the

Institute of Fisheries Management The Institute of Fisheries Management (IFM) is a not-for-profit membership based organisation founded in 1969 and based in the United Kingdom. Its objectives include bringing together professionals in fishery management and those with an interest ...

from 1987–99 and of the

Freshwater Biological Association The Freshwater Biological Association (FBA) is an independent scientific organisation founded in 1929 in Cumbria by Felix Eugen Fritsch, William Harold Pearsall, Francis Balfour-Browne, and Robert Gurney among others. Whilst originally created to ...

from 1972-74

Rodillian School

Carl Ablett Carl Ablett (born 19 December 1985) is an English former professional rugby league footballer who played as a or for the Leeds Rhinos in the Betfred Super League and England at international level. Ablett spent time on loan from Leeds at ...

–

Leeds Leeds () is a city and the administrative centre of the City of Leeds district in West Yorkshire, England. It is built around the River Aire and is in the eastern foothills of the Pennines. It is also the third-largest settlement (by populati ...

first team rugby league player * * Mark Bell – musician, one half of LFO * Gareth Evans – former

Leeds United Leeds United Football Club is a professional football club based in Leeds, West Yorkshire in England. The club competes in the Premier League, the highest level of England's football league system, and plays its home matches at Elland Road S ...

Huddersfield Town Huddersfield Town Association Football Club is a professional football club based in Huddersfield, West Yorkshire, England, which compete in the . The team have played home games at the Kirklees Stadium since moving from Leeds Road in 1994. Th ...

and

Blackpool Blackpool is a seaside resort in Lancashire, England. Located on the North West England, northwest coast of England, it is the main settlement within the Borough of Blackpool, borough also called Blackpool. The town is by the Irish Sea, betw ...

footballer * Alan Smith – former

Manchester United Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of City of Salford, Salford to ...

and

Newcastle United Newcastle United Football Club is an English professional football club, based in Newcastle upon Tyne, that plays in the Premier League – the top flight of English football. The club was founded in 1892 by the merger of Newcastle East End ...

footballer * Robert Shaw Cameron – actor and theatre director

Notable teaching staff

Harry Gration Harry John Gration (22 October 1950 – 24 June 2022) was an English journalist and broadcaster. He was one of the main anchors for the BBC Yorkshire regional magazine programme '' Look North''. He was often referred to as ''Mr. Yorkshire'' b ...

– journalist & broadcaster, former head of history