Valley Gardens Middle School is located in

Monkseaton Monkseaton is an area of Whitley Bay, North Tyneside, in the North East of England. Historically in Northumberland, it is in the north-east of the borough, from the North Sea coast and north of the River Tyne at North Shields. to the north of ...

Whitley Bay Whitley Bay is a seaside town in the North Tyneside borough in Tyne and Wear, England. It formerly governed as part of Northumberland and has been part of Tyne and Wear since 1974. It is part of the wider Tyneside built-up area, being around e ...

North Tyneside North Tyneside is a metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of Tyne and Wear, England. It forms part of the greater Tyneside conurbation. North Tyneside Council is headquartered at Cobalt Park, Wallsend. North Tyneside is bordered ...

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the European mainland, continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

. The Headteacher is David Godfrey. It is the largest middle school in

, with about 730

pupils The pupil is a black hole located in the center of the iris of the eye that allows light to strike the retina.Cassin, B. and Solomon, S. (1990) ''Dictionary of Eye Terminology''. Gainesville, Florida: Triad Publishing Company. It appears black ...

on roll and SATs results are significantly above the

nation A nation is a community of people formed on the basis of a combination of shared features such as language, history, ethnicity, culture and/or society. A nation is thus the collective Identity (social science), identity of a group of people unde ...

al average. It serves a mainly suburban catchment. Its motto is "What do you want to achieve?" Most students transfer to

Whitley Bay High School Whitley Bay High School is a coeducational upper school and sixth form located in Whitley Bay, North Tyneside, England. Location It is situated next to ''Monkseaton Drive'' (A1148), towards the north of Monkseaton, and is less than a mile from ...

at the end of

Year 8 Year 8 is an educational year group in schools in many countries including England, Wales, Australia and New Zealand. It is the eighth or ninth year of compulsory education. It is known as Seventh grade in the United States and Canada, and First ...

due to its close proximity. Prior to

school A school is an educational institution designed to provide learning spaces and learning environments for the teaching of students under the direction of teachers. Most countries have systems of formal education, which is sometimes comp ...

reorganisation in the 1970s the

building A building, or edifice, is an enclosed structure with a roof and walls standing more or less permanently in one place, such as a house or factory (although there's also portable buildings). Buildings come in a variety of sizes, shapes, and fu ...

was 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 ...

; hence it has always had relatively good

technology Technology is the application of knowledge to reach practical goals in a specifiable and Reproducibility, reproducible way. The word ''technology'' may also mean the product of such an endeavor. The use of technology is widely prevalent in me ...

facilities for a

middle school A middle school (also known as intermediate school, junior high school, junior secondary school, or lower secondary school) is an educational stage which exists in some countries, providing education between primary school and secondary school. ...

History

The school has had a varied history. The

was built in 1957. It closed through the summer of 1973 and turned from

County Secondary School into Valley Gardens Middle School . For the academic year 1973-74 it operated as a Middle School with only years 2,3 and 4. Year 1 of the Middle school commenced in 1974-75. In 2000 the school was threatened with closure after North Tyneside council wanted to turn to a two-tier system instead of the three-tier system that was then used, this did not happen. In 2002, an extra year five class was added to take the numbers from 5 classes to 6. At that time, every other year had six classes already. This move was taken to increase capacity and increase chances of getting into

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 later life. Also in 2002 the school governors encouraged the local education authority to provide more classrooms and modernise the buildings.

Renovation

Recently, the school has been renovated to fit the large number of pupils in the school. A new year five block with state-of-the-art interactive whiteboards in each classroom has been built and was opened by the former Foreign Secretary, David Miliband. These

boards Board or Boards may refer to: Flat surface * Lumber, or other rigid material, milled or sawn flat ** Plank (wood) ** Cutting board ** Sounding board, of a musical instrument * Cardboard (paper product) * Paperboard * Fiberboard ** Hardboard, a t ...

have now been fitted into nearly every classroom in the school. The front of the school has been rebuilt with a new main office, a head teacher's room and a meeting room. Two special needs rooms have been also built to help with the number of pupils on the special needs register. This is all to bring the school from its 1970s style into the 21st Century.

Awards

The school has been awarded numerous awards and trophies. One of them is the International School Award, which celebrates the school success in doing international activities such as an International Day in 2005, plus the schools high success in languages. It was presented by

BBC News BBC News is an operational business division of the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) responsible for the gathering and broadcasting of news and current affairs in the UK and around the world. The department is the world's largest broad ...

reader

Anna Ford Anna Ford (born 2 October 1943) is an English former journalist, television presenter and newsreader. She first worked as a researcher, news reporter and later newsreader for Granada Television, ITN, and the BBC. Ford helped launch the British ...

in 2006. The school received an Outstanding review from Ofsted in 2013.

Famous pupils, past

Peter Ramage Peter Iain Ramage (born 22 November 1983) is an English football coach and former player who is currently an assistant coach for the Newcastle United U23 team. Ramage began his career with Newcastle United as an academy player before progre ...

, current

Queens Park Rangers Queens Park Rangers Football Club, commonly abbreviated to QPR, is a professional football club based in Shepherd's Bush, West London, England, which compete in the . After a nomadic early existence, they have played home matches at Loftus Ro ...

and former Newcastle United footballer * Steven Taylor, Newcastle United footballer *

Greg Rutherford Gregory James Rutherford MBE (born 17 November 1986) is a retired British track and field athlete who specialised in the long jump. He represented Great Britain at the Olympics, World and European Championships, and England at the Commonwealth ...

Hartlepool United Hartlepool United Football Club is a professional association football club based in Hartlepool, County Durham, England. The team competes in EFL League Two, League Two, the fourth tier of the English football league system. They were founded i ...

footballer

References

External links

Valley Gardens Middle School
{{authority control Middle schools in the Metropolitan Borough of North Tyneside Whitley Bay Foundation schools in the Metropolitan Borough of North Tyneside