John Whitgift Academy

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John Whitgift Academy
Motto "Working Together For Excellence"
Established 1972
Type Academy
Headteacher Mark Rushby
Chair of Governors Chris Dixon
Location Crosland Road
Great Coates
Grimsby
Lincolnshire
DN37 9EH
England Coordinates: 53°34′17″N 0°07′56″W / 53.5713°N 0.1323°W / 53.5713; -0.1323
Local authority North East Lincolnshire
DfE number 812/4011
DfE URN 137464 Tables
Ofsted Reports
Staff +/- 200
Students 704
Gender Coeducational
Ages 11–16

John Whitgift Academy (formerly known as Whitgift School) is a co-educational secondary school with academy status on Crosland Road in Grimsby, North East Lincolnshire, England.

Admissions

The school became the John Whitgift Academy in September 2011. The Principal is Mr Mark Rushby. There are around 800 pupils. It serves the areas of Great Coates, The Willows and Wybers Wood. It is situated in the Great Coates district on the western outskirts of Grimsby near the A1136 and around 500m from a railway station, easily accessed via the A1136 Europarc interchange of the A180. It is an undersubscribed school. It is in the parish of St Nicholas, Great Coates.

History

It is named after John Whitgift, a native of Grimsby and Archbishop of Canterbury from 1583 to 1604. It opened in September 1971. Crosland Road where the school was built, was named after the former (pre-1977) MP for Great Grimsby, who implemented Comprehensive Education across the UK, specifically removing most grammar schools. Until April 1974 it was administered by the County Borough of Grimsby Education Committee, then Humberside Education Committee in Beverley. The school became known as Whitgift Comprehensive School.

Threat of Closure

It was threatened with closure in 2006 but in February 2007 won a reprieve.

Whitgift Film Theatre

The 203-seat theatre at Whitgift School. The theatre is used for educational purposes within the school, such as assemblies, as well as the showing of films.
The school has the 203-seat Whitgift Film Theatre. This is the only school in the UK with such a building, and was built as part of the school when the British Film Institute wanted a network of regional film theatres. It opened on 28 September 1972, showing Gumshoe, around the same time that Doncaster Film Theatre opened. There were 45 BFI-funded regional film theatres in the UK at that point. It became known as Grimsby Film Theatre.

From 1992 to 2000, it was known as Grimsby Screen. The cinema was bought from (former) Grimsby council when it was going to be closed by a group of amateurs who also had in their possession a large film library. The commercial operation briefly closed in April 2005 due to competition from the nine-screen Parkway Cinema in Cleethorpes which opened in November 2004 but the group of amateurs stepped in two weeks later. It used to be Grimsby's only cinema, until the Odeon was re-opened as The Regal on Freeman Street. It is now equipped with DTS digital sound.

Academic performance

Like most schools in Grimsby, it does not have a sixth form.

Vertical Learning

Whitgift's learning system was changed in 2006, when the tutor forms became "vertical", meaning that Year 7, Year 8, Year 9, Year 10 and Year 11 students are in tutor forms together, rather than "horizontal" tutor forms, whereby there is only one year group in each form. The system was then changed again in June 2008, to include GCSE classes consisting of Year 9 and Year 10 students in one class. The GCSE courses were also condensed from two-year courses to one-year courses. This meant that instead of choosing only two options at GCSE to study over two years, students could choose two options per year for three years, so students have the chance to study 4 more GCSEs than usual. The system was changed again in June 2009, so Year 9, Year 10, and Year 11 students were in the same GCSE classes. The year before, Year 11 students carried on with the old curriculum, so could not participate in the vertical system.

Academic performance

Whitgift School's 2008 results were its best ever, achieving 37% 5A*-Cs including English & Maths. It is the fourth best performing secondary school in the LEA (out of the twelve).

Alumni

  • Ian Huntley (1985–90)

See also

  • Healing School, nearby school to the west
  • List of schools in Yorkshire and the Humber

External links

News items

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