Lakers School

Coordinates: 51°48′32″N 2°36′32″W / 51.809°N 2.609°W / 51.809; -2.609

Lakers School

Motto	"Creating success for all through cooperation, challenge and support"
Established	1914
Type	Secondary School
Headteacher	John Reilly (Interim Head)
Location	Five Acres Coleford Gloucestershire Gl16 7QW England
DfE URN	115774 Tables
Ofsted	Reports
Students	605
Gender	Mix
Ages	11–16
Houses	Phoenix, Gryphon, Dragon, Hydra
Colours
Website	Lakers School

Lakers School is a secondary school in the Five Acres area of Coleford, Gloucestershire, England. John Reilly is the interim head teacher.

Lakers School was placed in Special Measures on 21 January 2016 by Ofsted following the publication of a critical inspection report from December 2015, which branded the school's overall effectiveness as 'inadequate'. ^[1] Following one of the first Ofsted reports since the school was placed in Special Measures, Ofsted said the school had made massive improvements and was striving towards moving out of Special Measures. ^[2]

Ever since the School was placed into Special Measures, it has been in ongoing talks with different educational trusts and Lakers will now officially become a 'Sponsored Academy' with the Greenshaw Learning Trust on 1st September 2017 after it was initially proposed by the Department for Education. ^{[3] [4]}

Following 32 years of being called Lakers School, a consultation survey was created in order to ask current students and parents on what a possible new name for the school could be once it converts to an academy. On Monday 15th May, the school announced that the name of the school is going to be changed to 'Five Acres High School' once the school joins the Greenshaw Learning Trust. Lakers School will officially close on Friday 21st July, it will reopen in September as Five Acres High School.

About Lakers

The school was opened in 1914 as a small secondary school which was intended to serve only Berry Hill and Coleford. Known as Five Acres Council School, it opened in 1914 with new buildings at Five Acres capable of accommodating 260 students. The school buildings only originally covered the size of the present reception building along with four classrooms which only allowed students to stay on until they were 14. Five Acres Council School converted to a Secondary Modern under a new act introduced in 1944 and it was renamed Berry Hill Secondary Modern. Berry Hill Secondary eventually grew to become one of the biggest Secondary Modern's in Gloucestershire when the schools catchment area was increased, this mainly happened after other local schools were closed. Students from Joys Green and Lydbrook then started being admitted as the school become one of the only ones to serve Coleford and the surrounding area. At this time the site at Five Acres was home to the Royal Forest Of Dean Grammar School as well as Berry Hill Secondary. In 1985 these two schools amalgamated and formed Lakers Comprehensive School in its place with a College taking the Grammar School's place. The school is still situated on the same site as Gloucestershire College formerly Royal Forest Of Dean College. Due to them sharing the same site, the school has access to the facilities at The Five Acres Leisure Centre which is owned by the College. ^{[5] [6]}

Alison Elliott, who is the current longest serving Headteacher of Lakers retired in December 2015 after 15 years in charge. John Reilly was put in place by the Local Authority and replaced her as Interim Headteacher in January 2016. He will leave his post in August 2017 and be replaced with Greenshaw Learning Trust's Ben Parnell. ^[7] When the school joins the Greenshaw Learning Trust, it will be renamed to 'Five Acres High School'.

References