John Whitgift Academy

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Whitgift School
Address
Crosland Road Grimsby , Lincolnshire , DN37 9EH England
Information
Type	Comprehensive
Motto	"Working Together For Excellence"
Established	c.1960
Local authority	NE Lincs
Ofsted	Reports
Head teacher	Mark Rushby
Staff	+/- 200
Gender	Coeducational
Age	11 to 16
Enrollment	740
Colour(s)	Blue, Green, Yellow, Red
Website	http://www.whitgift-school.co.uk

Whitgift School is a comprehensive co-educational secondary school on Crosland Road in Grimsby, North East Lincolnshire.

History

It is named after John Whitgift, a native of Grimsby and Archbishop of Canterbury from 1583 to 1604. It is situated in the Great Coates district on the western outskirts of Grimsby near the A1136 and around 500m from a railway station. It opened in September 1972. 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.

The East block of the school was burnt down between 1997 and 1998 in a fire allegedly started by two year 9 students. They broke into the school in by breaking a window in the North block, where the science labs are located. After breaking into the science labs, they turned the gas taps on and started the fire in the East block, in a bid to blow the school up. However, they did not turn the main gas valve on and that part of their plan failed.

The fire that was started in the East block completely gutted that part of the building. Mrs. Ireland, the headteacher at the time, told students that she could see the flames from the Humber Bridge when she was driving to Grimsby to survey the damage.

The school was closed to all students for approximately 1 month before they were eventually given work to do from home. Agreements were reached with neighbouring schools for students to travel to them to attend practical classes such as science and technology.

Whitgift Film Theatre

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. 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 is Grimsby's only cinema.

Admissions

The Headteacher is Mr Mark Rushby. There are around 800 pupils. It serves the areas of Great Coates, The Willows and Wybers Wood.

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.

Threat of Closure

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

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).

See also

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

External links

• Whitgift School website
• Film theatre
• History of film theatre
• School Profile
• Independent article October 2000
• EduBase

News items

• School threatened with closure in February 2007
• Getting funding to unsuccessfully become a sports college in April 2006
• Film theatre briefly closed in April 2005
• Boy expelled for holding a knife to 12 year old girl's throat in November 2003