Ruskin Community High School is a

coeducational Mixed-sex education, also known as mixed-gender education, co-education, or coeducation (abbreviated to co-ed or coed), is a system of education where males and females are educated together. Whereas single-sex education was more common up to ...

comprehensive secondary school in

Crewe Crewe () is a railway town and civil parish in the unitary authority of Cheshire East in Cheshire, England. At the 2021 United Kingdom census, 2021 census, the parish had a population of 55,318 and the built-up area had a population of 74,120. ...

Cheshire Cheshire ( ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in North West England. It is bordered by Merseyside to the north-west, Greater Manchester to the north-east, Derbyshire to the east, Staffordshire to the south-east, and Shrop ...

, England, for pupils aged 11 to 16 years.

History

The school was founded in 1902 as Crewe County Secondary School in rooms at the then Technical College in Flag Lane and moved to the new Ruskin Road building in 1909. The name changed to Crewe County Grammar School after the

Education Act 1944 The Education Act 1944 ( 7 & 8 Geo. 6. c. 31) made major changes in the provision and governance of secondary schools in England and Wales. It is also known as the Butler Act after the President of the Board of Education, R. A. Butler. Histori ...

. The last CCGS reunion was held in 2012 for pupils who entered the school in 1971 or 1972. When secondary education in Crewe was reorganised the school became the Ruskin County High School (and fully comprehensive) in 1978. It achieved a

Specialist School Specialist schools, also known as specialised schools or specialized schools, are schools which specialise in a certain area or field of curriculum. In some countries, for example New Zealand, the term is used exclusively for schools specialis ...

s status in 2002 after a successful application to the

Specialist Schools Trust SSAT (The Schools Network) Limited (branded as SSAT, the Schools, Students and Teachers network) is a UK-based, independent educational membership organisation working with primary, secondary, special and free schools, academies and UTCs. It ...

and sufficient fund-raising. Headteachers: Mr D. H. McCurtain (1902–1938) Mr A. J. Storey (1938–1942) Mr E. G. Hodgkinson (Acting Headmaster 1942-45) Mr H. M. Dowling (1945–1967) Mr Lucas (1968–1974) Mr J. R. Munks (1974–1994) Mr Mottershead (1994–2009) Mrs E. Brett (2009–2019) Mr D. Postlethwaite (2019–present)

Recent developments

The school specialises in sport, and briefly

modern foreign languages Language education refers to the processes and practices of teaching a second or foreign language. Its study reflects interdisciplinary approaches, usually including some applied linguistics. There are four main learning categories for langu ...

. The refurbished sports hall was opened in October 2005, whilst a new dining hall was completed in spring 2006. When the school was awarded Sports College Status, five floodlit

tennis court A tennis court is the venue where the sport of tennis is played. It is a firm rectangular surface with a low net stretched across the centre. The same surface can be used to play both Types of tennis match, doubles and singles matches. A variet ...

s were built at a cost of almost £250,000. Ruskin celebrated its centenary year on the Ruskin Road site in 2009. The celebrations officially began on Friday, 9 January 2009, with an assembly involving pupils and staff, ex-staff, ex-pupils and government officials. Assembly was followed by a tree planting service and concluded with a memorial service, during which a bench was dedicated to each of the three pupils who lost their lives while pupils at the school. Ruskin also built a Dance and Drama studio as an extension to the sports hall and it has been opened since February 2025.

Alumni

Ian Butterworth Ian Stewart Butterworth (born 25 January 1964) is an English former professional footballer, formerly assistant and caretaker manager at Norwich City. He is the chief scout at Queens Park Rangers. Playing career Butterworth was a central defen ...

, defender for

Norwich City Norwich City Football Club is a professional football club based in Norwich, Norfolk, England. The club competes in the Championship, the second tier of English football. The club was founded in 1902. Since 1935, Norwich have played their h ...

William Cooper William Cooper may refer to: Business *William Cooper (accountant) (1826–1871), founder of Cooper Brothers * William Cooper (businessman) (1761–1840), Canadian businessman * William Cooper (co-operator) (1822–1868), English co-operator * Wil ...

(pseudonym of H.S. Hoff), novelist * Alan Gibbons, children's author * Norman Hughes, Olympic bronze medallist hockey player in the 1984 Olympics *

Mark Price, Baron Price Mark Ian Price, Baron Price (born 2 March 1961) is a British businessman, Founder of WorkL for Business and WorkL, Chairman of Fair Trade UK, writer, President of the Chartered Management Institute and member of the House of Lords. He was a fo ...

, managing director of

Waitrose Waitrose Limited, trading as Waitrose & Partners, is a British supermarket chain, founded in 1904 as Waite, Rose & Taylor, later shortened to Waitrose. In 1937, it was acquired by the John Lewis Partnership, the UK's largest employee-owned b ...

between 2007-16 * Colin Prophett, footballer * Chloe Lloyd, model * David "Steve" Jones, DJ, musician and TV presenter * Greg Tiernan, animator and director

References

{{authority control Secondary schools in the Borough of Cheshire East Educational institutions established in 1902 Crewe 1902 establishments in England Community schools in the Borough of Cheshire East

History

Recent developments

Alumni

See also

References