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John Port Spencer Academy

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This is an old revision of this page, as edited by Ginga123 (talk | contribs) at 00:41, 20 September 2012 (Site and History clean up. Removal of Jubilee block, as no reference from the school website of any new building being completed). The present address (URL) is a permanent link to this revision, which may differ significantly from the current revision.

For persons with the same name, see John Port.
John Port School
Address
Map
Main Street

Etwall
,
Derbyshire
,
DE65 6LU

England
Information
TypeAcademy Trust
MottoThe Opportunity to succeed
Established1956
Local authorityDerbyshire
SpecialistTechnology, Mathematics, Computing
Department for Education URN112990 Tables
OfstedReports
HeadteacherMrs W Sharp
GenderCoeducational
Age11 to 18
Enrollment2100
Colour(s)Oxford Blue
Websitehttp://www.johnport.org.uk/

John Port Specialist Technology, Mathematics and Computing College[1] is a very large academy in the village of Etwall, Derbyshire, England.

Admissions

With the current number of students around the 2100 mark[2] it puts John Port as the largest secondary school in Derbyshire, and one of the largest nationally.[3] The Head teacher is Mrs Wendy Sharp.

John Port is a mixed school, with the student age range between 11 and 16, and with the John Port 6th Form taking students from the ages of 16 to 18. However, even with the large size of the school a very real sense of community is maintained through each year being split into 12 forms. A child on entry to the school joins a form into which they stay until they leave in Year 11. Each form generally has the same personal tutor that is there for and follows their form through their years at JP. Each year also has a Head of Year and Deputies, to whom authority of the year is given to.

There are approximately 140 full time and temporary members of the teaching staff.

History

The school is on the site of a demolished country manor, Etwall Hall, Etwall, situated just outside Derby, traditionally of the Port family who were the wealthy landowners/farmers of the parish.[4] In 1952, the Derbyshire County Council bought Etwall Hall from Reg Parnell, the famous racing car driver. The hall had been used during the Second World War by the Army, first as a petrol depot and later as an equipment supply centre and been left in a somewhat dilapidated state. After its demolition a secondary modern, Etwall Secondary School, and a secondary grammar school, John Port Grammar School, were built on the site. In 1965, they were amalgamated to form the John Port School that occupies the site today.

The name of the Port family, who lived at the hall, has been associated with Etwall since the 15th century. The family’s most famous son, Sir John Port, was the founder of the nearby Repton School and committed to the furthering of education for young men in the village. It therefore seemed entirely appropriate that the new school was named after him.

School site

The large attractive site has an open feel, being a 'green' campus with plenty of well maintained open spaces between the individual teaching facilities. The centre of the site is focussed around the lake, one of the original fishing ponds that were in the grounds of the Etwall Hall.

Teaching facilities are spread across the site, with each faculty having a separate building. The buildings (apart from Flamsteed, which is named after a famous local scientist John Flamsteed) are each named after settlements and features in Derbyshire and the Peak District (Ilam being in Staffordshire, but with links to the Port family), named from A to H alphabetically, in chronological order of when they were first built. This system gives order to classroom numbering and also a 'short name for each block, i.e., 'A12' is the twelfth classroom in 'A' block (Ashbourne). The original school started with 'A' and 'B' blocks, and has expanded from there. The faculties and corresponding blocks are as follows:

  • Ashbourne - Mathematics
  • Bakewell - Modern Foreign Languages, ICT
  • Chatsworth - English, Economics, Politics, Sociology, Psychology, Business studies
  • Derwent - Design Technology, Food Technology, Child studies
  • Edale - Humanities (Geography, History, Philosophy Religion and Ethics) and Student Support
  • Flamsteed - Sciences (Biology, Chemistry, Physics)
  • Glossop - 6th Form Centre of higher education
  • Hathersage - Expressive arts (Art, Drama, Music, Dance, Textiles, Theatre studies)
  • Ilam - temporary building, various subjects

The Learning Resources Centre is situated centrally on the site, occupying most of the ground floor of 'B' block. It has a full computer suite and a library stocked with 14,000 books on all subjects taught at the school, and aimed at 11–18-year-old readers. It is staffed by a professionally qualified Chartered Librarian, Mrs Durkan, to ensure that it is always well maintained and stocked to the needs of the student base.

There were originally two canteen dining halls on the site, one each in 'A' and 'C' blocks, until 'C' was closed and therefore 'A' is the only catering hall at the present time. It serves hot lunches and also caters for morning break. 'A' block hall has, in the past, served both snacks and hot food, while various incarnations of 'Ashbourne Stage' and 'Lite Bite' cafes have also run from the block. With the 'Lite Bite' reopening in 2010 the main hall again returns to serving only hot meals.

The site is also home to the Etwall Leisure Centre, with public access from Hilton Road. This new centre was officially opened on 17 July 2009, although it didn't open to the public till 5 August 2009. The new facilities include a six-lane 25 m swimming pool, squash courts, fitness suite and large sports hall. The old centre closed to the public after the early morning swimming on 24 June, having shut earlier than planned because the main circulation pump fatally failed the previous night. It was decided not to replace the pump because of the large cost. The pool was then drained, and is set to be refurbished and converted into a 'Flexible Learning Centre' which will provide classrooms for many BTEC courses, amongst others.

Both boys and girls PE have been transferred to the new sports and leisure centre. The future of the previous gymnasiums ('A' Hall) and ('C' Hall) facilities has not been disclosed past 2010, although 'C' gym has so far been been transferred into use as an examination centre, resulting in a full re-cladding of the building in 2010

The central location of 'E' block also houses the student welfare offices, which includes a local Connexions office on site. Student support was moved to 'E' block, from being spread over the site, on this newest block's completion in September 2006.

Academic performance

The school gets well-above-average results at GCSE, and standards at both GCE AS and A level are above average according to Ofsted.[5] The school is twinned with the Gymnasium Melle,[6] and there are annual joint exchanges with their windband, with a bi-annual concert being held at John Port School.[7] The friendship of the schools arose out of the twinning arranged by the mayor of Osnabruck.[8]

Notable students

John Port Grammar School

  • Sir Howard Newby (1959–66) - Sociologist and former head of the Economic and Social Research Council [11]
  • Mark Sharman (1961-8), Head of News and Sport at ITV.

Catchment area

The size of the school means that it has a very large catchment area, covering 31 parishes of South Derbyshire.

Ash | Barton Blount | Bearwardcote | Boylestone | Burnaston | Church Broughton | Dalbury Lees | Egginton | Etwall | Findern | Foremark | Foston | Hatton | Hilton | Hoon | Marston on Dove | Mickleover | Newton Solney | Osleston | Radbourne | Repton | Rolleston on Dove | Scropton | Stenson | Stretton | Sutton on the Hill | Thurvaston | Trusley | Twyford | Tutbury | Willington

And includes the following primary schools

  1. Church Broughton Primary School
  2. Egginton Primary School
  3. Etwall Primary School
  4. Heathfields Primary School
  5. Findern Primary School
  6. Hilton Primary School
  7. Longford Primary School
  8. Long Lane Primary School
  9. Mickleover Primary School
  10. Ravensdale Primary School
  11. Repton Primary School
  12. Silverhill Primary School
  13. Sudbury Primary School
  14. St Clare Special Needs School
  15. Willington Primary School

[12]

References

the school crest
  1. ^ John Port site accessed May 16, 2009
  2. ^ About Us page
  3. ^ http://www.whatdotheyknow.com/request/list_of_large_secondary_schools
  4. ^ Etwall at Derbyshire-PeakDistrict.co.uk accessed August 2007
  5. ^ Ofsted Report
  6. ^ Gymnasium Melle in Osnabrück
  7. ^ windband in Osnabruck
  8. ^ The Germans We Trusted: Stories of Friendship Resulting from the Second World War, Pamela Howe Taylor, p148, 2003, ISBN 0-7188-3034-2, accessed ay 2009
  9. ^ ‘MEEK, Elizabeth Jane’, Who's Who 2008, A & C Black, 2008; online edn, Oxford University Press, December 2007 accessed 3 Sept 2008
  10. ^ David Sanders, Professor of Government
  11. ^ Higher Education in the 21st Century (Conference), Dublin Institute of Technology, Ireland, 25-27 June 2007 (Speaker Biographies) retrieved 17 August 2008
  12. ^ [1]
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