Ruskin High School, Crewe

Ruskin High School is a mixed comprehensive secondary school in Crewe, Cheshire, England, for pupils aged 11 to 16 years.^[3] Ruskin was founded in 1902 and reopened in 2002 with the help of Bobby Charlton who consequently gave a namesake to one of the schools houses.

Admissions

In September 2005 there were 696 pupils on roll at the school, a number which has risen steadily over the past few 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 1944 Education Act.^[3] Following the opening of the Girls' Grammar School at Buchan Grove (now King's Grove High School) in the early 1960s, the Ruskin Road building became Crewe County Grammar School for Boys.

When secondary education in Crewe was reorganised the school became the Ruskin County High School (and fully comprehensive) in 1978.^[3] It achieved a Specialist Schools status in 2002 after a successful application to the Specialist Schools Trust and sufficient fund-raising.^[3]

Recent developments

The school specialises in sport, and briefly modern foreign languages. 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 courts were built at a cost of almost £250,000.^[3] It is hoped that further improvements will include better library and science provisions. Ruskin Sports College recently spent £30,000 on interactive whiteboards in 12 classrooms; the school governors are committed to more expenditure on information technology, and improved library facilities.

The school was renamed Ruskin Sports And Languages College on 26 September 2007, a day chosen because it was the European Day of Languages. The logo on the uniform was not changed.

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.^[1]

At the beginning of the 2009/2010 academic year the school lost its specialist Language status, reverting to solely a Sports College. The specialist schools programme has now ended, however the school continues to offer sport as a specialism

Traditions

The school formerly had a competitive house system. In keeping with its specialisation in physical education, the three houses were named after famous athletes: Woods, named after golf player Tiger Woods; Charlton, named after Sir Bobby Charlton, who officially re-opened Ruskin Sports College on 29 September 2002; and Radcliffe, named after Paula Radcliffe. Individual students won "merit" stamps for good behaviour or work, which count towards their house's total of merits. The house with the most merits at the end of the year won the school trophy for a year. Students were required to wear differently coloured ties (blue, green and red for Woods, Charlton and Radcliffe respectively) to indicate which house they belonged to.

The school holds annual concerts, including the Jazz Club, a Christmas Concert, and a Summer Celebration of Music. The concerts are made up of performances by recognised individuals and bands ranging in size from three to twenty members. Pianist/Composer Tom Seals started his career performing in said concerts.

See also

• List of places in Cheshire
• List of schools in Cheshire East

References