The Dean Academy (formerly Whitecross School) is a mixed secondary school located in

Lydney Lydney is a town and civil parish in Gloucestershire, England. It is on the west bank of the River Severn in the Forest of Dean District, and is 16 miles (25 km) southwest of Gloucester. The town has been bypassed by the A48 road since 199 ...

in the English county of

Gloucestershire Gloucestershire ( abbreviated Glos) is a county in South West England. The county comprises part of the Cotswold Hills, part of the flat fertile valley of the River Severn and the entire Forest of Dean. The county town is the city of Gl ...

Location

The school is located on the edge of

, a small river-side town in the Royal

Forest of Dean The Forest of Dean is a geographical, historical and cultural region in the western part of the county of Gloucestershire, England. It forms a roughly triangular plateau bounded by the River Wye to the west and northwest, Herefordshire to ...

. It adjoins the Lydney Park Estate on Church Road near Bathurst Park, St. Mary's Church and

Lydney Town Hall Lydney Town Hall is a municipal structure in the High Street, Lydney, Gloucestershire, England. The structure, which is used as an events venue, is listed by the local authority as a "building of local architectural or historical interest". His ...

History

Whitecross School was a foundation school administered by

Gloucestershire County Council Gloucestershire County Council is a county council which administers the most strategic local government services in the non-metropolitan county of Gloucestershire, in the South West of England. The council's principal functions are county road ...

. It converted to academy status on 1 November 2012 and was renamed The Dean Academy. It joined the Prospects Academy Trust but continued to co-ordinate with Gloucestershire County Council for admissions. In May 2014, it was announced that the trust was to cease operations, and The Dean Academy formally joined the Athelstan Academy Trust in March 2015. which also contains Malmesbury School and

Bradon Forest School Bradon Forest School is a mixed secondary school in Purton (near Swindon) in Wiltshire, England. In September 2015 the school converted to academy status and is now part of the Athelstan Academy Trust, which also includes Malmesbury School ...

Wiltshire Wiltshire (; abbreviated Wilts) is a historic and ceremonial county in South West England with an area of . It is landlocked and borders the counties of Dorset to the southwest, Somerset to the west, Hampshire to the southeast, Gloucestershire ...

. In November 2015, the Dean Academy 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 ...

after a critical Ofsted report, and the headteacher, David Gaston, resigned. Following his resignation, John Barrett was head appointed teacher for the 2015–2016 school year. In September 2016, a new permanent head of school, Tom Beveridge, was appointed.

Academics

The Dean Academy offers

GCSEs The General Certificate of Secondary Education (GCSE) is an academic qualification in a particular subject, taken in England, Wales, and Northern Ireland. State schools in Scotland use the Scottish Qualifications Certificate instead. Private sc ...

, BTECs,

OCR Nationals OCR Nationals are vocationally related qualifications which were officially launched by the OCR Board in September 2004. The qualifications are designed to meet the needs of those seeking vocational education in place of the traditional, theory-i ...

and

ASDAN "ASDAN"(Award Scheme Development and Accreditation Network) is a British education charity and awarding organization, headquartered in Bristol. It began as a research project of the University of the West of England in the 1980s, and was formal ...

courses and programmes of study for pupils. The school also offers hair and beauty courses.

Notable former pupils

Whitecross School

Wayne Barnes Wayne Barnes (born 20 April 1979) is an English international rugby union referee and barrister. He is a regular referee in the English Premiership, and has refereed games in the Heineken Cup and the European Challenge Cup. At international lev ...

, rugby union referee * Andy Lewis, Rio 2016 Paralympic gold medalist

References

External links

The Dean Academy
{{DEFAULTSORT:Dean Academy Secondary schools in Gloucestershire Academies in Gloucestershire Lydney