William Farr School, formally William Farr C of E Comprehensive School, is a

Church of England The Church of England (C of E) is the established Christian church in England and the mother church of the international Anglican Communion. It traces its history to the Christian church recorded as existing in the Roman province of Britai ...

academy school for 11 to 18-year-olds located within the town of Welton,

Lincolnshire Lincolnshire (abbreviated Lincs.) is a Counties of England, county in the East Midlands of England, with a long coastline on the North Sea to the east. It borders Norfolk to the south-east, Cambridgeshire to the south, Rutland to the south-we ...

, England, north-east of

Lincoln Lincoln most commonly refers to: * Abraham Lincoln (1809–1865), the sixteenth president of the United States * Lincoln, England, cathedral city and county town of Lincolnshire, England * Lincoln, Nebraska, the capital of Nebraska, U.S. * Lincol ...

, near the A46. Despite being a part of Welton, most of the school grounds are located in the

civil parish In England, a civil parish is a type of administrative parish used for local government. It is a territorial designation which is the lowest tier of local government below districts and counties, or their combined form, the unitary authorit ...

Dunholme Dunholme is a village and civil parish in the West Lindsey district of Lincolnshire, England. It is situated on the A46 road, and north-east of Lincoln. The earliest written evidence concerning Dunholme is found in the 1086 Domesday Book. The v ...

History

Remains of 2nd World War Airfield Runway - geograph

Secondary modern school

The school was opened as a

secondary modern A secondary modern school is a type of secondary school that existed throughout England, Wales and Northern Ireland from 1944 until the 1970s under the Tripartite System. Schools of this type continue in Northern Ireland, where they are usuall ...

in 1952 on the site of

RAF Dunholme Lodge Royal Air Force Dunholme Lodge or more simply RAF Dunholme Lodge was a Royal Air Force station located between the parishes of Welton and Dunholme in Lincolnshire, England. History The grass airfield was first used by the Royal Air Force during ...

, a

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 opposi ...

Bomber Command Bomber Command is an organisational military unit, generally subordinate to the air force of a country. The best known were in Britain and the United States. A Bomber Command is generally used for strategic bombing (although at times, e.g. during t ...

station, which had been bought for £600 in 1946 by the Rev William Farr, vicar of Welton. The school was named after him when he died in 1955.

Comprehensive

The school acquired comprehensive status in 1972, whilst Brian Sawyer was the headmaster. It gained

Grant Maintained Grant-maintained schools or GM schools were state schools in England and Wales between 1988 and 1998 that had opted out of local government control, being funded directly by a grant from central government. Some of these schools had selective a ...

status in 1992. This latter scheme was later abolished, but the school became a foundation school, a similar arrangement, in 1999. In 2000, William Farr became a specialist Technology School. In March 2003, the College Descartes-Montaigne from

Liévin Liévin (; pcd, Lévin; ) is a commune in the Pas-de-Calais department in northern France. The inhabitants are called ''Liévinois''. Overview The town of Liévin is an old mining area of Pas-de-Calais. Near Lens, this town is of modest size bu ...

was due to send an

exchange Exchange may refer to: Physics *Gas exchange is the movement of oxygen and carbon dioxide molecules from a region of higher concentration to a region of lower concentration. Places United States * Exchange, Indiana, an unincorporated community * ...

visit to the school, but this was cancelled due to all schools in the Pas-de-Calais department being told Britain was too dangerous to visit. The school became a

Science College Science Colleges were introduced in 2002 as part of the now defunct Specialist Schools Programme in the United Kingdom. The system enabled secondary schools to specialise in certain fields, in this case, science and mathematics Mathemati ...

in 2007. The school became an independent

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 2012. Head teacher Paul Strong, prior to his retirement in August 2011, stated he did not want to rename the school; it kept its full title, William Farr Church of England Comprehensive School. William Farr is also an associate school of the

University of Lincoln , mottoeng = Freedom through wisdom , established = 1861 – Hull School of Art1905 – Endsleigh College1976 – Hull College1992 – University of Humberside1996 – University of Lincolnshire and Humberside2001 � ...

School performance

Before the school became an academy, Ofsted inspected and judged it as follows: * 2000: "a very good school, with many excellent features" * 2006: Outstanding * 2009: Outstanding * 2022: Good In 2007, the school was a National Support School. In 2001 William Farr had the best comprehensive school A-level results in England. In 2019, the school's

Progress 8 benchmark The Progress 8 benchmark is an accountability measure used by the government of the United Kingdom to measure the effectiveness of secondary schools in England. It bands pupils into groups based on their scores in English and mathematics during t ...

at GCSE was above average. The proportion of its students entering the

English Baccalaureate The English Baccalaureate (EBacc) is a school performance indicator in England linked to the General Certificate of Secondary Education (GCSE) results. It measures students' attainment by calculating an average score from specified subject grades. ...

was low. 56% of children achieved Grade 5 or above in English and maths GCSEs, compared to 43% nationally. Progress at

A level The A-Level (Advanced Level) is a subject-based qualification conferred as part of the General Certificate of Education, as well as a school leaving qualification offered by the educational bodies in the United Kingdom and the educational au ...

was below average and the average result was C+, the same as the national figure. At least three currently serving staff members at the school have received awards. Helen Brittain, Head of History, received the 2008 Guardian award for teacher of the year at the East Midlands Conference Centre at the

University of Nottingham , mottoeng = A city is built on wisdom , established = 1798 – teacher training college1881 – University College Nottingham1948 – university status , type = Public , chancellor ...

. The award was also given to Elizabeth Hanson in 2011 and Christopher Mattley in 2015. Paul Strong, head teacher 1986-2011, was awarded Head Teacher of the Year at the Commendation in the National Teaching Awards in 2009, the Ted Wragg Lifetime Achievement Award 2010, and an OBE in at the Queen's Diamond Jubilee Birthday Honours 2012.

School buildings

The old former wartime buildings were replaced in 1960. The sports hall was built in 1974, and the sixth form added in 1995. Queen Elizabeth II and

Prince Philip Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh (born Prince Philip of Greece and Denmark, later Philip Mountbatten; 10 June 1921 – 9 April 2021) was the husband of Queen Elizabeth II. As such, he served as the consort of the British monarch from E ...

visited the school on 14 October 1996 to open a new

humanities Humanities are academic disciplines that study aspects of human society and culture. In the Renaissance, the term contrasted with divinity and referred to what is now called classics, the main area of secular study in universities at the t ...

building, named after Joseph Banks. There was a further building programme in the 2000s. The Lawres Chapel was opened in 2004 by the then

Bishop of Lincoln The Bishop of Lincoln is the ordinary (diocesan bishop) of the Church of England Diocese of Lincoln in the Province of Canterbury. The present diocese covers the county of Lincolnshire and the unitary authority areas of North Lincolnshire and ...

John Saxbee John Charles Saxbee (born 7 January 1946) is a retired Anglican bishop. He was the Bishop of Lincoln in the Church of England between 2001/2 and 31 January 2011.

. It is home to the Helen Alwyn memorial window and the RAF Book of Remembrance, which honours those who served and died during the

and were stationed here at

. Every day, members of Year 7 have the responsibility of turning a page. The chapel is always open and available to all members of the school of any faith or none.

The William Farr School Museum

There were plans for an

RAF museum The Royal Air Force Museum is a museum dedicated to the Royal Air Force in the United Kingdom. The museum is a non-departmental public body of the Ministry of Defence and is a registered charity. The museum is split into two separate sites: * Ro ...

on the site of a school in September 2015, with the curator of the planned RAF Dunholme Lodge Heritage Site former RAF intelligence officer and keen military historian Brian Riley. The project aims to create a museum to celebrate and preserve the history of

, which inhabited the site before the school opened. The school had a special

Nissen hut A Nissen hut is a prefabricated steel structure for military use, especially as barracks, made from a half-cylindrical skin of Corrugated galvanised iron, corrugated iron. Designed during the First World War by the American-born, Canadian-British ...

constructed at the school to house the artefacts it has collected over the last few years. A conservation specialist from Suffolk to advise the academy on how to best display and preserve the material they have. Foundations of many of the old RAF buildings were discovered the in William Farr Wood behind the school, planned to be used for an interpretive trail, with help from a woodland management team. The centre appealed for photographs and artefacts that may still be in the community.

Notable ex-pupils

* Tracy Borman, historian and broadcaster * Martha Harris, footballer

References

External links

Official school website

EduBase

Video clips

Teachers TV
{{authority control Educational institutions established in 1952 West Lindsey District Church of England secondary schools in the Diocese of Lincoln 1952 establishments in England Secondary schools in Lincolnshire Academies in Lincolnshire