Hameldon Community College was a mixed 11–16

comprehensive school A comprehensive school typically describes a secondary school for pupils aged approximately 11–18, that does not select its intake on the basis of academic achievement or aptitude, in contrast to a selective school system where admission is res ...

located in

Burnley Burnley () is a town and the administrative centre of the wider Borough of Burnley in Lancashire, England, with a 2001 population of 73,021. It is north of Manchester and east of Preston, at the confluence of the River Calder and River Bru ...

Lancashire Lancashire ( , ; abbreviated Lancs) is the name of a historic county, ceremonial county, and non-metropolitan county in North West England. The boundaries of these three areas differ significantly. The non-metropolitan county of Lancashi ...

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

The school opened in September 2006 as part of an ambitious plan to replace all of the district's 11-16 schools, funded by a government

public–private partnership A public–private partnership (PPP, 3P, or P3) is a long-term arrangement between a government and private sector institutions.Hodge, G. A and Greve, C. (2007), Public–Private Partnerships: An International Performance Review, Public Administ ...

programme called

Building Schools for the Future Building Schools for the Future (BSF) was the name given to the British government's investment programme in secondary school buildings in England in the 2000s. The programme was ambitious in its costs, timescales and objectives, with politicia ...

. It was formed from the merger of Habergham High School and Ivy Bank Business and Enterprise College and initially occupied the adjacent sites of the former schools.

Former schools

Habergham High School was formed in 1981 from the merger of the male

Burnley Grammar School Burnley Grammar School was latterly, a state-funded selective boys grammar School, situated in Byron Street in Burnley, England. However, during its long history, it moved between a number of sites in the town. History In 1552, on the order of ...

and the neighbouring female Burnley High School for Girls and quickly earned a reputation as the borough's leading mixed

. Ivy Bank was initially a girls' high school that shared the site of the other two schools, and it also became a mixed comprehensive in 1981. This school enjoyed a steadily improving reputation, becoming one of the first specialist business and enterprise colleges in the country in 2002.

Early history

The school suffered an unexpectedly troubled birth, with the police attending numerous violent incidents in the first few weeks of its opening. This resulted in the installation of a

CCTV Closed-circuit television (CCTV), also known as video surveillance, is the use of video cameras to transmit a signal to a specific place, on a limited set of monitors. It differs from broadcast television in that the signal is not openly t ...

system in the school's temporary buildings. The institution was put into

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 ...

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 ...

after an inspection in February 2007 in which it was placed in the lowest category (Grade 4), and saw a drop in pupil numbers. A serious racially motivated assault in December 2007 resulted in a large drop in attendance, and marked the lowest point in the school's history to date. In June 2009, the school came out of special measures and was awarded the status of a "satisfactory, but an improving school".

New building

Hameldon moved to a new £22m building on Coal Clough Lane (the site of the former St Hilda's School) in September 2010. The grounds were host to a variety of student learning resources such as pets: guinea pigs; three chickens (Mitilda, Elmo, and Chicken Licken, which give eggs to the school, which sells them); and fish, frogs and ducks in the pond. In 2016 the headteacher, Gill Broom retired and was replaced by Associate Headteacher, Gillian Jackson, who was then later replaced by three headteachers sharing the role.

Closure

Hameldon Community College formally closed in August 2019 due to low attainment and financial concerns caused by low pupil numbers.

Legacy

Despite the closure of the college, the building remains a

Private finance initiative The private finance initiative (PFI) was a United Kingdom government procurement policy aimed at creating "public–private partnerships" (PPPs) where private firms are contracted to complete and manage public projects. Initially launched in 199 ...

(PFI) building and the Lancashire County Council will continue paying for the building until 2036 at which point it takes ownership. Hence the building has been put to alternative use. In 2019 the Rhyddings Business and Enterprise School temporarily relocated to the former Hameldon College building whilst their own building was demolished and rebuilt. Once Rhyddings returns to their own site in 2022, Lancashire County Council is expected to continue to provide other services from the former Hameldon building.

Attainment

In 2007, the school's value-added measure was 970.1 (national average 1000), which placed it in the bottom 5% nationally for adding value between the end of

Key Stage 2 Key Stage 2 is the legal term for the four years of schooling in maintained schools in England and Wales normally known as Year 3, Year 4, Year 5 and Year 6, when the pupils are aged between 7 and 11 years. England and Wales Legal definition The t ...

and the end of

Key Stage 4 Key Stage 4 (KS4) is the legal term for the two years of school education which incorporate GCSEs, and other examinations, in maintained schools in England normally known as Year 10 and Year 11, when pupils are aged between 14 and 16 by August 31. ...

. By 2010 this figure had fallen to 953.6, placing it in the bottom 100 schools nationally.

Notable former pupils

Habergham

Stella Reid Stella Reid (born 3 October 1964) is an English nanny, author and television personality, known publicly as one of the stars of the reality television series ''Nanny 911''. She is co-author of ''The Nanny Chronicles of Hollywood'', ''Nanny 911: ...

, TV nanny (Sixth-form only)

Ivy Bank

Sophie Hitchon Sophie Hitchon (born 11 July 1991) is a retired British hammer thrower. She is the British record-holder with a throw of 74.54 metres, set when winning the Olympic bronze medal at the 2016 Rio Games, Great Britain's first ever Olympic medal i ...

, British women's record holding

hammer throw The hammer throw is one of the four throwing events in regular track and field competitions, along with the discus throw, shot put and javelin. The "hammer" used in this sport is not like any of the tools also called by that name. It consis ...

References

External links

EduBase

Ivy Bank High School

BBC Lancashire
{{Borough of Burnley culture Schools in Burnley Educational institutions established in 2006 Defunct schools in Lancashire 2006 establishments in England Educational institutions disestablished in 2019 2019 disestablishments in England