The St Lawrence Academy (formerly High Ridge 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 ...

Church of England The Church of England (C of E) is the State religion#State churches, established List of Christian denominations, Christian church in England and the Crown Dependencies. It is the mother church of the Anglicanism, Anglican Christian tradition, ...

secondary school A secondary school, high school, or senior school, is an institution that provides secondary education. Some secondary schools provide both ''lower secondary education'' (ages 11 to 14) and ''upper secondary education'' (ages 14 to 18), i.e., b ...

with academy status, in

Scunthorpe Scunthorpe () is an industrial town in Lincolnshire, England, and the county's third most populous settlement after Lincoln, England, Lincoln and Grimsby, with a population of 81,286 in 2021. It is the administrative centre and largest settleme ...

North Lincolnshire North Lincolnshire is a Unitary authorities of England, unitary authority area with Borough status in the United Kingdom, borough status in Lincolnshire, England. At the 2011 United Kingdom census, 2011 Census, it had a population of 167,446. T ...

, England. The Academy teaches

GCSEs The General Certificate of Secondary Education (GCSE) is an academic qualification in a range of subjects taken in England, Wales, and Northern Ireland, having been introduced in September 1986 and its first exams taken in 1988. State schools ...

and BTECs, and has specialisms in sports and science.

History

Grammar school

Scunthorpe Grammar School opened in 1927. A 34 year old senior English teacher, Mr Caine, killed himself, possibly accidentally, on 7 July 1964, being found by policeman James Martin. 32 year old history teacher Geoffrey Stevenson was the Liberal candidate for

Gainsborough Gainsborough or Gainsboro may refer to: Places * Gainsborough, Ipswich, Suffolk, England ** Gainsborough Ward, Ipswich * Gainsborough, Lincolnshire, a town in England ** Gainsborough (UK Parliament constituency) * Gainsborough, Saskatchewan, Ca ...

in the 1966 general election, gaining around 6,000 votes. It became a comprehensive, as High Ridge School, in 1968 when the Scunthorpe division of

Lindsey Lindsey may refer to : Places Canada * Lindsey Lake, Nova Scotia England * Parts of Lindsey, one of the historic Parts of Lincolnshire and an administrative county from 1889 to 1974 ** East Lindsey, an administrative district in Lincolnshire, ...

turned comprehensive. The school lost its sixth form in 1968.

Comprehensive

In August 1971 ten swimmers from the comprehensive school attempted a relay crossing of the

English Channel The English Channel, also known as the Channel, is an arm of the Atlantic Ocean that separates Southern England from northern France. It links to the southern part of the North Sea by the Strait of Dover at its northeastern end. It is the busi ...

. Technical staff, who were educated at the former Scunthorpe Grammar school, were killed in the notorious Flixborough explosion in June 1974, such as 27 year old Michael Skelton. A community school administered by North Lincolnshire Council, High Ridge School converted to academy status on 1 September 2008 and was renamed The St Lawrence Academy. The school is sponsored by the Church of England

Diocese of Lincoln The Diocese of Lincoln forms part of the Province of Canterbury in England. The present diocese covers the ceremonial county of Lincolnshire. History The diocese traces its roots in an unbroken line to the Pre-Reformation Diocese of Leice ...

. In 2011 demolition of the old building began and construction started as part of the Building Schools for the Future programme. The new building was built by

May Gurney Kier Group plc is a British construction, services and property development, property group active in building and civil engineering, support services, and the Private Finance Initiative. Founded in 1928 in Stoke-on-Trent it initially specialis ...

and was completed in October 2013. The old hall is refurbished but still remains.

Headteachers

Scunthorpe Grammar School

* John McIver from c. 1950 to 1968

High Ridge School

* Gerald Derek Fish, until around 1984, he lived at Scotter, and he taught at Westcliffe Secondary Modern School in the 1950s * Mrs Ann Marsh-Edwards, from November 1984; in March 1996 she was diagnosed with ovarian cancer and died aged 53 on 15 November 1997 * Eric Barker, from March 1996, the former deputy head, he retired at the end of May 1998 after 30 years at the school * Karen Parsonage, from September 1998 until July 2008, the former deputy head, and a squash player, from Scotter and an English teacher, she had previously taught at the Havelock Comprehensive in

Grimsby Grimsby or Great Grimsby is a port town in Lincolnshire, England with a population of 86,138 (as of 2021). It is located near the mouth on the south bank of the Humber that flows to the North Sea. Grimsby adjoins the town of Cleethorpes dir ...

Notable alumni

High Ridge School

* Graham Beale CBE, Chief Executive from 2007-15 of the

Nationwide Building Society Nationwide Building Society is a British mutual financial institution and the largest building society in the world. As of 2024, it serves over 16 million members and operates entirely for their benefit, without shareholders. The society was e ...

(attended the John Leggott College),''Times'' Monday August 30 2010, page 37 from 1970-75 *

Neil Cox Neil James Cox (born 8 October 1971) is an English former professional Association football, footballer and manager who is currently the assistant manager of National League (division), National League club York City F.C., York City. A Defender ...

, former Premier League footballer

Scunthorpe Grammar School

Joan Plowright Andrew Ray A Taste of Honey Broadway 1960

Roy Axe Royden Axe (September 1937 – 5 October 2010) was a British car designer, widely known for his design work on the Chrysler Alpine, Hillman Avenger/Plymouth Cricket, Chrysler Horizon, and Rover 800 — as well his affable character and a ...

, car designer with

Chrysler Europe Chrysler Europe was the American automotive company Chrysler's operations in Europe from 1967 through 1978. It was formed from the merger of the French Simca, British Rootes and Spanish Barreiros companies. In 1978, Chrysler divested thes ...

in the 1970s, designing the Talbot Horizon and

Alpine Alpine may refer to any mountainous region. It may also refer to: Places Europe * Alps, a European mountain range ** Alpine states, which overlap with the European range Australia * Alpine, New South Wales, a Northern Village * Alpine National P ...

, later working for

Austin Rover Group The Austin Rover Group (abbreviated ARG) was a British motor manufacturer. It was created in 1982 as the mass-market car manufacturing subsidiary of British Leyland (BL). Previously, this entity had been known as BL Cars Ltd (formerly Leyland ...

in the late 1980s * Prof Gordon Dougan FRS, Head of Pathogen Research at the

Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute The Wellcome Sanger Institute, previously known as The Sanger Centre and Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute, is a non-profit organisation, non-profit British genomics and genetics research institute, primarily funded by the Wellcome Trust. It is l ...

in Cambridgeshire * John Peck (politician), can be seen in the film ''

Saturday Night and Sunday Morning ''Saturday Night and Sunday Morning'' is the first novel by British author Alan Sillitoe and won the Authors' Club Best First Novel Award. It was adapted by Sillitoe into the 1960 film of the same name starring Albert Finney, directed by ...

'', who belonged to the

Communist Party of Great Britain The Communist Party of Great Britain (CPGB) was the largest communist organisation in Britain and was founded in 1920 through a merger of several smaller Marxist groups. Many miners joined the CPGB in the 1926 general strike. In 1930, the CPGB ...

(CPGB) * David Plowright, CBE, television producer, younger brother of Joan, Controller of Programmes from 1969–79 at

Granada Television ITV Granada, formerly known as Granada Television, is the ITV (TV network), ITV franchisee for the North West of England and Isle of Man. From 1956 to 1968 it broadcast to both the north west and Yorkshire on weekdays only, as ABC Weekend TV, ...

(which helped his brother-in-law) * Dame

Joan Plowright Joan Ann Olivier, Baroness Olivier (; 28 October 1929 – 16 January 2025), commonly known as Dame Joan Plowright, was an English actress whose career spanned over six decades. She received several accolades including two Golden Globe Awards, an ...

, actress, married to

Laurence Olivier Laurence Kerr Olivier, Baron Olivier ( ; 22 May 1907 – 11 July 1989) was an English actor and director. He and his contemporaries Ralph Richardson and John Gielgud made up a trio of male actors who dominated the British stage of the m ...

from 1961 to his death in July 1989 * Major-General Dennis Shaw CB CBE, Head from 1975-78 of the Commando Logistic Regiment *

Graham Taylor Graham Taylor (15 September 1944 – 12 January 2017) was an English football player, manager, pundit and chairman of Watford Football Club. He was the manager of the England national football team from 1990 to 1993, and also managed Lincoln ...

OBE, former manager from 1990-93 of

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

* Prof Stephen Westaby

FRCS Fellowship of the Royal Colleges of Surgeons (FRCS) is a professional certification, professional qualification to practise as a senior surgeon in Republic of Ireland, Ireland or the United Kingdom. It is bestowed on an wikt:intercollegiate, ...

, Senior Cardiac Surgeon since 1986 at the

John Radcliffe Hospital John Radcliffe Hospital (informally known as the JR or the John Radcliffe) is a large tertiary teaching hospital in Oxford, England. It forms part of Oxford University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust and is named after John Radcliffe (physician) ...

, and Professor of Biomedical Sciences since 2006 at the

University of Wales The University of Wales () is a confederal university based in Cardiff, Wales. Founded by royal charter in 1893 as a federal university with three constituent colleges – Aberystwyth, Bangor and Cardiff – the university was the first universit ...

References

External links

The St Lawrence Academy official website
Secondary schools in the Borough of North Lincolnshire Church of England secondary schools in the Diocese of Lincoln Academies in the Borough of North Lincolnshire Schools in Scunthorpe {{Lincolnshire-school-stub