The Ridgeway School & Sixth Form College is a mixed

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) ...

and

sixth form In the education systems of England, Northern Ireland, Wales, Jamaica, Trinidad and Tobago and some other Commonwealth countries, sixth form represents the final two years of secondary education, ages 16 to 18. Pupils typically prepare for A-l ...

in Wroughton, near

Swindon Swindon () is a town and unitary authority with Borough status in the United Kingdom, borough status in Wiltshire, England. As of the 2021 Census, the population of Swindon was 201,669, making it the largest town in the county. The Swindon un ...

in the

English county The counties of England are areas used for different purposes, which include administrative, geographical, cultural and political demarcation. The term "county" is defined in several ways and can apply to similar or the same areas used by each ...

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 ...

. The school was established in 1967 and was the first purpose-built

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 ...

in Wiltshire. Previously a

foundation school In England and Wales, a foundation school is a state-funded school in which the governing body has greater freedom in the running of the school than in community schools. Foundation schools were set up under the School Standards and Framework A ...

administered by

Swindon Borough Council Swindon Borough Council is the local authority of the Borough of Swindon in Wiltshire, England. It is a unitary authority, having the powers of a non-metropolitan county and district council combined. As such, it is administratively separate fro ...

, it converted to academy status in August 2011 and is part of the White Horse Federation, a multi-academy trust. The school continues to coordinate with Swindon Borough Council for admissions. The school's catchment area includes Bishopstone,

Hinton Parva Hinton Parva is a hamlet former Civil parishes in England, civil parish, now in the civil parish of Hinton, Dorset, Hinton, in east Dorset, England, three miles north of Wimborne Minster. The parish had a population of 56 in 2001. The settlement ...

, Wanborough, Liddington, Coate, Badbury, Chiseldon, Hodson, Bassett Down, Uffcott, Broad Hinton and Winterbourne Bassett. The school offers GCSEs and BTECs as programmes of study for pupils, while students in the sixth form have the option to study from a range of

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 aut ...

s and further BTECs.

Controversy

In 2005, in an attempt to aid integration after the

7 July 2005 London bombings The 7 July 2005 London bombings, often referred to as 7/7, were a series of four coordinated suicide attacks carried out by Islamic terrorists in London that targeted commuters travelling on the city's public transport system during the mo ...

, the local council began sending British Asian youth from

(outside the normal catchment area) to the school. Some of this group formed a gang which pupils and parents called the "Asian Invasion", who bullied other pupils. On 11 January 2007, Henry Webster, a 15-year-old singled out for his red hair and large size, stood up to a member of the "Asian Invasion" and agreed for a one-on-one fight. However, the boy showed up with several others, including adults and Webster suffered injuries including brain damage from a hammer. In February 2008, four people were convicted for the attack. By May, 13 had been convicted. In February 2010, the

High Court of Justice The High Court of Justice in London, known properly as His Majesty's High Court of Justice in England, together with the Court of Appeal of England and Wales, Court of Appeal and the Crown Court, are the Courts of England and Wales, Senior Cou ...

ruled in favour of the school when it was sued by Webster and his family. He had claimed that although the attack was outside school hours, it had been caused by the school's lack of action against the "Asian Invasion". In September that year, a case review was published about the situation at the school, which recommended that all incidents of bullying should record the ethnicity of perpetrators and victims to look for racial motivations.

References

External links

* Secondary schools in Swindon Educational institutions established in 1967 1967 establishments in England Academies in Swindon {{Wiltshire-school-stub