The Elmhirst School was a comprehensive school on the B6100
Ardsley Road
in

Worsbrough Dale Worsbrough is an area about two miles south of Barnsley in the metropolitan borough of Barnsley, South Yorkshire, England. Before 1974, Worsbrough had its own urban district council in the West Riding of the historic county of Yorkshire and ...

, south of Barnsley,

South Yorkshire South Yorkshire is a ceremonial county, ceremonial and metropolitan county, metropolitan county in the Yorkshire and Humber Region of England. The county has four council areas which are the cities of City of Doncaster, Doncaster and City of Sh ...

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 ...

History

It was the Worsbrough High School, which became known as Elmhirst School in the 1990s. The building before 1952 had been the White Cross School. It became the

Barnsley Academy Barnsley Academy is a secondary school in Barnsley, South Yorkshire, England. The school opened in September 2006. The school has academy status, sponsored by United Learning. Ofsted judgements As of 2021, the school's most recent inspecti ...

in 2006. In October 2003, Barnsley Council had decided to close the school in August 2004 and open a new 11-18 school, under the ''Fresh Start'' scheme. In February 2004, the council decided to close the school and open an

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 philosop ...

in September 2006 for ages 3–18, including Worsbrough Bank End and Kendray primary schools. It was to be done under Barnsley Council's ''Remaking Learning'' project. The Academy would have 420 primary places and 900 secondary places. Funding would come from the Department for Education and Skills, and £2m from the Academy's sponsor, the Church Schools Company (which became the

United Church Schools Trust The United Church Schools Trust (UCST) is a large education charity in the United Kingdom which owns and operates a group of 12 independent schools. The charity is operating under the name United Learning as of 2012. History UCST was founded in ...

). It was actually sponsored by the

United Learning Trust United Learning is a group of state-funded schools and fee-paying independent schools operating in England. United Learning is the trading name for United Church Schools Trust (UCST) and United Learning Trust (ULT). It is one of the largest 10 ch ...

Admissions

It admitted ages 11–16 from the

Worsbrough Worsbrough is an area about two miles south of Barnsley in the metropolitan borough of Barnsley, South Yorkshire, England. Before 1974, Worsbrough had its own urban district council in the West Riding of the historic county of Yorkshire and ...

and Ardsley areas. More than 50% of pupils were on

free school meal A school meal or school lunch (also known as hot lunch, a school dinner, or school breakfast) is a meal provided to students and sometimes teachers at a school, typically in the middle or beginning of the school day. Countries around the world ...

s. The Ardsley area has a very high teenage pregnancy rate, double the national rate, and much higher than the overall rate for Barnsley.

Academic performance

It was a low performing school, like many schools in Barnsley. From 2000, the schools results virtually halved. It was placed in

special measures Special measures is a status applied by regulators of public services in Britain to providers who fall short of acceptable standards. In education (England and Wales) Ofsted, the schools inspection agency for England and some British Overseas Ter ...

in 2003, and taken out of this restriction in November 2003. In 2003, its results for exams at 14 were the fifth lowest in England. In the same year, only 9% of pupils got 5 good GCSEs. By 2006, including English and Maths, only 6% of pupils got five good GCSEs including Maths and English. In that same year the school, in March 2006, was lifted from Special Measures into the Notice to Improve category by OFSTED. The Academy opened in the old building in September 2006. The Academy moved to its new building on 1 March 2009. In the Summer of 2010 the Academy saw 51% of its students achieve give good GCSEs including Maths and English - it was listed by the Department for Education as the most improved Academy in England.

Alumni

White Cross Secondary School/Worsbrough High School

Arthur Scargill Arthur Scargill (born 11 January 1938) is a British trade unionist who was President of the National Union of Mineworkers (NUM) from 1982 to 2002. He is best known for leading the UK miners' strike (1984–85), a major event in the history of ...

1949-53 *

Mick McCarthy Michael Joseph McCarthy (born 7 February 1959) is a professional football manager, pundit, and former player. He was last in charge of EFL Championship club Cardiff City. McCarthy began his playing career at Barnsley in 1977, and he later had ...

1970-74

External links

School Homepage

2000-3 GCSE results

Proposal for new Academy (pdf)

EduBase

News items

Parents opposing the Academy in 2005

Designing new Academy in November 2004

Receiving praise in September 2004

School in one of the worst in England in December 2003

Video clips

Memories of the former school
{{DEFAULTSORT:Elmhirst School The Defunct schools in Barnsley Educational institutions established in 1952 Educational institutions disestablished in 2006 1952 establishments in England 2006 disestablishments in England