| Established | 2009 |
|---|---|
| Principal | Douglas Blackledge |
| Specialism | Sport and Applied Mathematics |
| Location | Barrow-in-Furness Cumbria England |
| Local authority | Cumbria |
| Students | 1,751[1] |
| Gender | Co-educational |
| Ages | 11–16 |
| Colours | |
| Website | Furness Academy Website |
Furness Academy is an independent secondary school in Barrow-in-Furness, England. It is the fourth and last academy to have been formed in the county of Cumbria after the closure of Alfred Barrow School, Parkview Community College of Technology and Thorncliffe School in 2009.
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Furness Academy was formed after a public consultation by Cumbria County Council following concerns over the falling number of pupils, educational standards and performance and out-of-date school facilities in the town. The decision was then made to establish an Academy to replace Alfred Barrow School, Parkview Community College of Technology and Thorncliffe School. The academy's three sponsors are Barrow Sixth Form College, Furness College and the University of Cumbria.
Despite numerous protests by students and concerned parents alike and a 6,000 signature petition presented to Cumbria County Council, the academy was given the go-ahead in 2009 and hundreds of Alfred Barrow students were uprooted and moved to the Furness Academy North Site (Formerly Thorncliffe) or South Site (Formerly Parkview)[2] Controversy continued even after Furness Academy opened in September 2009 when it was revealed that during its first year over 380 pupils had been excluded (around one in five of the academy's total student population).[3] Over the same time period only 33% of year 11 pupils managed to pass five GCSE's, considerably fewer than the national average of 46% and lower still than the troubled Alfred Barrow and Thorncliffe Schools that Furness Academy replaced.[4]
Furness Academy's eight departments include: English and Literacy, Maths and Numeracy, Physical Education and Sport Science, Technology, Personal and Social Development, Modern Foreign Languages, Humanities and Religious and Moral Education.[5]
| Barrow Higher Grade School (1880-1930) | Alfred Barrow Boys School (1930-1979) | Alfred Barrow School (1979-2009) | Furness Academy (2009-Present) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Alfred Barrow Girls School (1930-1979) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Barrow Boys Grammar School (1930-1979) | Parkview Community College of Techonology (1979-2009) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Barrow Girls Grammar School (1932-1979) | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Risedale School | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Barrow Technical School (1903-1970) | Thorncliffe School (1970-2009) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Barrow Higher Grade School and both the segregated and coeducational Alfred Barrow Schools were located within a Grade II listed building on Duke Street, a large wing of which became St.George's Church of England Primary School in September 2011. The building which Barrow-in-Furness Technical School formerly occupied was renamed the Nan Tait Centre in the early 2000's and now serves as a media and arts centre aswell as general office complex.[6] One predecessor of Parkview Community College of Technology; Risedale School has been completely demolished and a Netto supermarket now stands on the site.
Since 2009 Furness Academy has occupied the former buildings of Thorncliffe and Parkview Schools which have been named the North and South Site respectively. A new multi-million pound academy building on one site is expected to be completed by 2013, the fate of the current North and South Site buildings thereafter are unknown.
Furness Academy North Site () is located on Thorncliffe Road on the border of the Hawcoat and Ormsgill wards and occupies the buildings that were formerly Thorncliffe School. The school was built in 1970 and upon closure had some 765 students.
Furness Academy South Site () is located at the bottom of West Avenue in the Parkside ward and occupies the buildings that were formerly Parkview School. The two main buildings of Furness Academy South Site were built in the 1930's as Barrow Boys Grammar School and Barrow Girls Grammar School The twin grammar schools were closed in the late seventies and were replaced by a new comprehensive school called Parkview Community College of Technology operating from the old Grammar school buildings which was created with the additional closure of the adjacent Risedale Secondary Modern school. There are two commemorative plaques in Auld Hall in memory of the 186 Barrow Boys Grammar School pupils who died in combat during World Wars I and II.[7] In 1979 Up to 2009, Parkview was the town's largest school in terms of pupil numbers and land area which accounted for over 25% of Barrow's 11-16 yr olds (not including Chetwynde), with 946 pupils attending the school. The last acting headteacher of Parkview School was Mr Robert Swales after replacing Mrs Enid Fraser.
Although the current student population at Furness College stand at over 1,700, this is predicted to drop to 1,200 by 2013.[8] A new state-of the-art academy building to accommodate these future students has been proposed since the conception of the academy itself, planning permission for the £22 million building was submitted to Cumbria County Council in January 2011 who in turn approved the application in March 2011.[8] The new complex will be located solely at the current South Site in the southern part of the academy's playing fields. The building will be set across two and three stories and is scheduled to be constructed between late 2011 and early 2013.[8]
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