Sedgefield Community College, which is in the laidlaw trust, is an

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

Sedgefield Sedgefield is a market town and civil parish in County Durham, England. It had a population of 5,211 as at the 2011 census. It has the only operating racecourse in County Durham. History Roman A Roman 'ladder settlement' was discovered by C ...

County Durham County Durham ( ), officially simply Durham,UK General Acts 1997 c. 23Lieutenancies Act 1997 Schedule 1(3). From legislation.gov.uk, retrieved 6 April 2022. is a ceremonial county in North East England.North East Assembly �About North East E ...

, England.

History

The school takes in students from most of the surrounding places including

itself,

Fishburn Fishburn is a village and civil parish in County Durham, in England. It is situated about 12 miles west of Hartlepool. It had a population of 2,454, increasing to 2,588 at the 2011 Census. Location The village lies scattered along a dry swell ...

Trimdon Trimdon is a village in County Durham, in England, previously known as Tremeldon (1196) or Tremedon (1262).Eilert Ekwall,1959, ''The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Placenames'' (4th edition), OUP, Oxford, p. 480; he cites taxation sources, ...

Trimdon Grange Trimdon Grange is a village in County Durham, in England. It is situated ten miles to the west of Hartlepool, and a short distance to the north of Trimdon. Colliery disaster At 14:40 on 16 February 1882 the Trimdon Grange colliery suffered a maj ...

, Trimdon Station,

Trimdon Colliery Trimdon Colliery is a village in County Durham, in England. It is situated a few miles to the west of Hartlepool, and a short distance to the north of Trimdon. Its most famous resident was the former Prime Minister, Tony Blair Sir Anthon ...

Coxhoe Coxhoe is a village in County Durham, England. It is situated about south of Durham City centre. The civil parish also includes nearby Quarrington Hill. The electoral ward of Coxhoe stretches beyond the boundaries of the parish and has a total ...

Bishop Middleham Bishop Middleham is a village in County Durham, in England. The population of the parish as taken at the 2011 census was 1,275 It is close to Sedgefield. History Bishop Middleham lies in a dry valley about 9 miles (14 km) south-east of Du ...

, and

West Cornforth West Cornforth is a village in County Durham, in England. It is situated to the south of Cornforth, near the A1 road (Great Britain)#A1.28M.29, A1(M) motorway, Coxhoe, Ferryhill and Spennymoor. It is known locally as “Doggie” though the etymolo ...

and individual students travel in from a much wider area. The original 1960s era school buildings closed on 17 December 2010 and were replaced on the same site with a new build school. Unusually, the original school had its own farm, which had

British saddleback The British Saddleback is a modern British breed of domestic pig. It was created in 1967 by merging the surviving populations of two traditional saddleback breeds, the Essex and Wessex Saddleback. It is an endangered breed, listed on the watch ...

Jacob sheep The Jacob is a British breed of domestic sheep. It combines two characteristics unusual in sheep: it is piebald—dark-coloured with areas of white wool—and it is often polycerate or multi-horned. It most commonly has four horns. The origi ...

, assorted hens, ducks and a range of other animals. The farm closed when the new school building was opened. In 2003 the school was visited by former American President

George W. Bush George Walker Bush (born July 6, 1946) is an American politician who served as the 43rd president of the United States from 2001 to 2009. A member of the Republican Party, Bush family, and son of the 41st president George H. W. Bush, he ...

as part of a visit to former Prime minister

Tony Blair Sir Anthony Charles Lynton Blair (born 6 May 1953) is a British former politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1997 to 2007 and Leader of the Labour Party from 1994 to 2007. He previously served as Leader of th ...

's constituency. In March 2017, the school was rated 'Outstanding' by Ofsted. This rating was retained following an inspection in 2022. Previously a community school administered by

Durham County Council Durham County Council is a local authority administering all significant local government functions in the unitary authority area of County Durham in North East England. The council area covers part of the ceremonial county of County Durham, e ...

, in March 2020 converted to academy status. The school is now sponsored by The Laidlaw Schools Trust. The school was awarded world class school status in 2020 and is known as one of the best schools in

and the whole region. It was named the best secondary school in the country in the Tes Schools Awards 2021.

In the media

In 2021, Sedgefield Community College was featured in the BBC One documentary ''Paddy and Christine McGuinness: Our Family and Autism''

Notable pupils

Jordan Nobbs Jordan Nobbs (born 8 December 1992) is an English professional Association football, footballer who plays for Women's Super League club Aston Villa W.F.C., Aston Villa and the England women's national football team, England women's national tea ...

, footballer who has played for

Sunderland Ladies 'Sunderland Association Football Club Women' is an English women's football club that plays in the . They play their home games at the Eppleton Colliery Welfare Ground in Hetton-le-Hole, in the City of Sunderland, Tyne and Wear. Sunderland won ...

Arsenal Women Arsenal Women Football Club, commonly referred to as Arsenal, is an English professional women's association football, women's football club based in London Borough of Islington, Islington, London, England. The club plays in the FA Women's Su ...

and the

England women's national football team The England women's national football team, also known as the Lionesses, have been governed by the Football Association (FA) since 1993, having been previously administered by the Women's Football Association (WFA). England played its first in ...

References

Secondary schools in County Durham Academies in County Durham Sedgefield {{CountyDurham-school-stub