Noel-Baker School

Noel-Baker School
Motto Excellence In All Things" was the original motto but that has since been removed when the LEAD Academy Trust took over and the school no longer has a motto.
Established 1960
Type Comprehensive school
Headteacher Ms Ann Donaghy
Founder Derby City Council (DCC)
Location Bracknell Drive
Derby
Derbyshire
DE24 0BR
England
52°52′58″N 1°26′20″W / 52.88288°N 1.43901°W / 52.88288; -1.43901Coordinates: 52°52′58″N 1°26′20″W / 52.88288°N 1.43901°W / 52.88288; -1.43901
DfE URN 112992 Tables
Ofsted Reports
Staff 72 plus 90 Associated Staff
Students 1250
Gender Coeducational
Ages 11–19
Website Noel Baker School.

Noel-Baker Academy (formerly Noel-Baker Community School) is a mixed comprehensive secondary school in Alvaston, Derby, UK. The school takes students from the Alvaston, Boulton and Crewton areas of the city.

In September 2004 the school was awarded specialist school status as a Language College, by the Department for Education and Skills (DfES).[1] The impact of this award has been limited since 2004. Students were required to take on a language at GCSE, but this has proven unpopular and since been withdrawn. Recently, just before the school moved into new buildings in September 2012, the school changed its name to simply 'Noel-Baker School'.

History

The school was founded in 1960 as a Technical Grammar School, with pupils who passed the 11,12&13 plus and pupils from Allenton Technical School. Its first Headteacher was Mr W Buchan. It is named after Philip Noel-Baker, Olympic athlete, Derby South MP and Nobel Peace Prize winner. It was his achievements that formed the names of the school houses. (Nobel, Freeman, Olympic etc.)

During the 1970s, the school functioned well under the firm leadership of the headteacher, Glyn John (Originally from Maesteg, South Wales and known affectionately by the pupils as 'Nunk').

However, during the early 1980s, after his retirement, (Succeeded by Mr David Gaulton as Headteacher)the school declined. This was due largely to declining results. The school drastically turned around when a new headteacher, Mr Geoff Wynne was appointed, (A Welshmen from North Wales) in the late 1980s. He took the school's GCSE results from 9% A-Cs in 1989 to 32% in 2002 when he retired. The schools GCSE results have continued to improve, moving to consistently above 30% for the key national measure of 5A*-C including English and Mathematics.

Dr. Paul Davies, of Swansea, then took the role of Headteacher, his focus was on securing consistent exam results and behaviour. As Dr Paul Davies was a doctor of History he would sometimes cover History lessons in order to gain a first-hand insight into students opinions of the school. The success of his brief spell as headmaster was great, as student GCSE A*-C grades saw a gradual percentage increase, although were still quite low compared to other secondary schools in the Derby area. The school has since seen year-on-year development of GCSE results. Dr. Davies left the position of head master to join the Local Authority as Head of Secondary Learning[2] following his departure Margaret Eley took the position of Acting Headteacher in the interim period.

In 2009 Mal Kerr, of Wirksworth, became Headteacher.[3] Mal Kerr is of Irish descent and since his arrival has attempted to establish good relationships with students around the school. This has been noticed by his frequent attempts to meet and greet students.

The school had a satisfactory OFSTED report in 2005, this was built upon in 2008 when inspectors reported that Noel-Baker Community School and Language College was a 'good and improving school'. (While Mrs Eley was acting Headteacher.)Since then the school was given a 'notice to improve' in its 2015 Ofsted inspection because of the unacceptable behaviour of the students. In 2014 the school GCSE results fell to 31%. At the same time the A Level results were the best that the school had ever achieved since re-introducing its sixth form. Unfortunately an October 2016 Ofsted inspection found the school totally inadequate in all aspects and in particular Ofsted criticised the headteacher, the leadership team and the governors for the school's inadequacy. Mal Kerr, the Headteacher was quickly replaced and there were changes to the leadership team and governors. <Ofsted report published in November 2016> Since the replacement of Mr Kerr, the management of the school has seen a considerable turnover. Now under the guidance of the LEAD Academy Trust there have been at least three temporary Headteachers. Initially Ms Debbie Gerring was made Executive Headteacher while at the same time being Head of St Martin's Special School which shares the same campus as Noel-Baker Academy.<https://news.derby.gov.uk/noel-baker-secondary-school-rated-inadequate-in-ofsted-report/> She was followed by Mr Geoff Wilson on behalf of the LEAD Academy. Simon Cotton who was thought to be permanent left the post in June 2018 after only eight months and was replaced by Ms Ann Donaghy, who previously worked at Nuneaton Academy.

Sixth Form

As well as catering for 11- to 16-year-olds (years 7-11), the school also has a Sixth Form for 16- to 18-year-olds. However, there are a select few students who failed to achieve the desirable grades within years 12-13, so carry on their subjects for another year, thus creating a 'year 14'. The Sixth Form offers A-Levels and GNVQs in various subjects. There are currently 150 A-Level students. However, the number of students taking on year 12 studies is on a current incline as the school has begun to take on students to resit GCSE Maths and English studies. This has led to a higher than desirable intake of students which resulted in a new study suite being designed in the sixth form block. This was completed in late 2010.

The current head of sixth form is Mrs Donna Wilcox and the current sixth form student support manager is Mrs Janet Gostick. Together they hold responsibility for student admissions as well as helping students through daily life, such as UCAS and employment issues. However, the role of UCAS reference writing has been outsourced to other teachers to ensure that they are more personal. The success of this decision has greatly benefited the students.

New building

The new school building construction has now finished. The new school has been placed on the old playing fields. The old building, which was exceeding 50 years old, has been demolished. The new Noel Baker construction had been prepared for the beginning of the school year in September 2012 at a cost of £34 million. The 1150 pupils of Noel Baker have combined with 90 pupils from St.Martin's special school - a school which operates to educate special needs students.[4]

The construction of the new Noel-Baker has made it the most expensive new-build school in the area in comparison to Merrill College's construction which cost £15 million and Derby Moor whose refurbishment cost £19 million.

Notable former pupils

[7] Phillip Evans, Professor of Medical Education

Sandy Ryan, Women's 69Kg Commonwealth Gold Medalist 2018

References

  1. ↑ "Specialist Schools Home". DfES. December 2006. Archived from the original on 2006-08-03. Retrieved 2007-02-21.
  2. ↑ Head Teacher Post Job advertisement on School Site
  3. ↑ "New Alvaston head ready for the challenge". Derby Telegraph. Retrieved 2009-10-04.
  4. ↑ http://www.thisisderbyshire.co.uk/Pupils-staff-wait-building-163-34m-school-begin/story-11631441-detail/story.html
  5. ↑ Harper's Bazaar editor speaks of her childhood in Derby accessed January 2011
  6. ↑ LinkedIn profile accessed 26 Nov 2017
  7. ↑ Tweet accessed 26 Nov 2017
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.