Jarrow School
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Jarrow School is a secondary school located in Jarrow, Tyne and Wear admitting pupils aged 11 to 18. It was opened in 2003 following the merger two existing schools in the area, Springfield Comprehensive and Hedworthfield Comprehensive, and is based at the old Springfield site. Its full title is Jarrow School, Learning For Life, the result of a competition to choose an inspirational name for the new school.
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[edit] History
[edit] Springfield
Historically, Springfield was Jarrow's grammar school and was formerly known as Jarrow Grammar School. It was situated near the town centre. It became a comprehensive school in 1978 to cater for all prospective pupils' academic abilities, in common with the other schools in the area including Hedworthfield. As a result, its catchment area for 11 to 16 year olds was reduced with the expectation that only more local families would be sending their children to the school from now on, although its 6th form (16 to 18 year old) pupils were admitted from a larger area.
[edit] Former pupils
- Jack Cunningham, politician.
- Stephen Hepburn, politician.
- John Miles (John Errington), musician.
- Steve Cram, Athlete.
[edit] Hedworthfield
Hedworthfield was originally designated as a complementary secondary modern school to Springfield's provision as the local grammar school. It was a newer development built in the 1960s at Fellgate on the outskirts of Jarrow. Extensive new building work was completed in the late 1970s providing the school with better facilities for arts & crafts, a music and drama studio, a community centre and a sports complex containing badminton and squash courts, a gym and other facilities.
Alongside Springfield, it was converted to a comprehensive school in 1978 to admit pupils of all abilities. However, following its redesignation, some parents still insisted on sending their children to Springfield, even though they were no longer in its catchment area; they cited concerns that an ex-secondary modern school might not measure up to the same academic standards as the former grammar school. Additionally, Hedworthfield had no provision for teaching 6th form pupils, meaning that those choosing to study subjects at A-level had to relocate once they had completed their O-levels or GCSEs. Generally, 6th form students opted to transfer to Springfield to continue their education.
As of 2002, an older part of the school that housed the library was in an obvious state of disrepair and was earmarked for closure if funds were not made available to improve it.
[edit] Head teachers
Les Jones
[edit] Merger
Following the dwindling number of pupils for the new intake year-on-year, it became apparent that continuing to fund the running of both schools in parallel was no longer viable, so a merger into a single school was proposed. After some debate as to whether it should be on one of the existing sites, or an entirely new site funded by a Private Finance Initiative, the decision was taken to locate the merged school at the Springfield campus.
[edit] Controversy
Pupils and parents from both Hedworthfield and Springfield were unhappy about the proposal to merge them into a single school. There was much additional criticism because of the timing, coming as soon as it did after new investment at the Hedworthfield site and the uncertainty surrounding the future of its new special needs unit for autistic children. However, the merger went ahead, resulting in the relocation of the Hedworthfield pupils to the Springfield site.
Interestingly, Hedworthfield's OFSTED results were surpassing those of the historically more academic Springfield for some time prior to the merger[citation needed] which added to the unpopularity of the decision, there where protests, riots, chairs and tables being thrown at teachers and rocks thrown at the Gazette van, at the time trying to cover the story of the merger controversy.
