Ormiston Denes Academy

Ormiston Denes Academy
Type Academy
Principal Ben Driver
Location Yarmouth Road
Lowestoft
Suffolk
NR32 4AH
England
52°29′23″N 1°44′55″E / 52.489779°N 1.748652°E / 52.489779; 1.748652Coordinates: 52°29′23″N 1°44′55″E / 52.489779°N 1.748652°E / 52.489779; 1.748652
DfE URN 139403 Tables
Ofsted Reports
Gender Coeducational
Ages 11–16
Houses 4
Website ormistondenes.co.uk

Ormiston Denes Academy is a secondary school with academy status located in the northern outskirts of Lowestoft in the English county of Suffolk. It has around 1000 students aged 11 to 16.[1]

It is situated on Yarmouth Road, the A47. It is also home to a sports training centre open to the public.

About Ormiston Denes Academy

Ormiston Denes Academy is one of Suffolk’s leading co-educational secondary schools, situated in the coastal town of Lowestoft, about 110 miles north-east of London. The most easterly secondary school in the United Kingdom, it lies just 22 miles south-east of Norwich, and has a train route to London Liverpool Street via Ipswich which is 50 miles to the south. The academy is located on the A47, centrally within the catchment area and just over a mile from the centre of Lowestoft. The grounds include a sports centre which serves a focal point for the community. Located in the historic parish of St Margaret’s, the academy’s history dates back to 1910 when it was founded as a replacement for a secondary fee-paying day school established in 1904. Built by Brown and Kerr its main building is a Grade II Listed Building with a Queen Anne facade. The school was originally designed to accommodate 320 pupils with the site comprising eleven acres of which seven were playing fields. For the first nine years the school was called the Lowestoft Municipal Secondary School and its aim was to provide a ‘sound education for boys and girls between the ages of 10 and 18’. In 1914, the first school magazine, The Lowestoftian was published, detailing the events of the school. Although it has seen many changes over time The Lowestoftian continues to be published to this day. From 1920 the school was renamed the Lowestoft Secondary School before becoming known as Lowestoft Grammar School from 1945 under the changes of the 1944 Butler Education Act. In June 1940, soon after the start of the Second World War and as a result of the danger from air raids on Lowestoft, 327 pupils together with the Head Master and 21 members of staff were evacuated to Worksop. The return to Lowestoft commenced in 1943 with eventually all returning by July 1944. After the end of the war there was a population boom, which caused a rapid rise in the number of pupils attending the school. This necessitated a utilitarian building programme in order to accommodate the new pupils. This expansion of the school buildings continued intermittently for the next 30 years. The school became a comprehensive in 1971 and was renamed The Denes High School. In September 2004 it was designated by the Department for Education and Skills as a specialist centre for business and enterprise. In September 2011 the age range changed from 13 – 18 to 11 – 16 as part of the reorganisation of all schools in the area. Students in years 7 and 8 joined the school after the closure of eight middle schools in Lowestoft and the opening of Lowestoft Sixth Form meant that the Lowestoft sixth form consortium, which had operated as a shared sixth form between the high schools in the town, was dissolved. As a result of these changes and the consolidation of other local providers, Ormiston Denes Academy is now the largest secondary school in the area with approximately 1000 students on role, primarily feeding into the school from one of the eleven primary schools in north Lowestoft. In 2013 the school joined Ormiston Academies Trust, converting to academy status and into its present form as Ormiston Denes Academy. Under new leadership from September 2016 the academy recently celebrated the highest ever student outcomes in its history, confirming its position as the top performing secondary academy in north Lowestoft, alongside its established reputation as a centre for sporting and creative excellence.

About Lowestoft

Lowestoft is the most easterly settlement in the United Kingdom and is home to Ness Point, the most easterly point in the British Isles – longitude 10 45’ 53” E. It is one of the oldest known towns showing evidence of human habitation with a history going back over 700,000 years. The name Lowestoft is of Viking origin, made up of the name Hlothver and the suffix toft, meaning homestead. By 1086, Lowestoft was known as Lothuwistoft and was described in the Domesday book as an agricultural village of just 16 households. It was a sub-manor under the manor of Gorleston, which formed part of the King’s holding within the Hundred of Lothingland. At that time there was no access to the sea from what are now Lake Lothing and Oulton Broad; all fishing was from the beach. In the Middle Ages Lowestoft became an increasingly important fishing town. The industry grew quickly and the town grew to compete with Great Yarmouth. The trade, particularly fishing for herring, continued to act as the town’s main income source until the 20th century. Wealthy merchants lived on the cliff tops, whilst the functional support for the industry grew on the wide open areas of the beach, known as the Denes. In 1847 Sir Morton Peto, often regarded as 'the father of modern Lowestoft', purchased the harbour at Lowestoft and built a railway line to the town, thus opening the whole of England as a market for the town's fresh fish. He also provided mooring for 1000 fishing boats, further supporting what was now the area’s leading generator of income and jobs. One million herring was the record catch for one day between Lowestoft and Great Yarmouth, and approximately four hundred million herring were being landed each season. These developments also had a profound impact on the town’s populace because they helped to assist other industries such as engineering and allowed others to take advantage of the port’s increased trade with the continent. Furthermore it began to establish Lowestoft as a flourishing seaside holiday resort. They heyday of the fishing industry was between 1870 and the start of World War I. When Norway prohibited British fleets working in its waters this signaled the end of the large scale fishing fleets operating from Lowestoft. Over the last one hundred years there has been a gradual decline in the industry with the last beam trawlers going out of business in 2002. However, as the town adapted many of these boats were transferred to service alongside the newly created North Sea oil rigs. Today a population of over 70,000 makes Lowestoft the second largest town in Suffolk. The town itself is a harmonious combination of the old and the new, retaining its rich architectural inheritance, such as the Lowestoft Town Hall and Lighthouse, both Grade II listed buildings, while developing modern services and amenities. It has many ancient buildings, intriguing deep little lanes linking town and shore, scores, offers two theatres, Marina and The Seagull, and a range of museums including the Lowestoft War Memorial Museum, the Maritime Museum and the Royal Naval Patrol Service Museum. It is also becoming a centre for the development of renewable energy. Ness Point is the site for the Orbis renewable energy development centre, and Britain’s previously tallest wind turbine Gulliver, standing 126 metres high. The recent revival of its old brewing tradition and its numerous businesses based on energy, old and new, and tourism, due to its picturesque southern beaches and proximity to the Broads and the River Waveney, are indicative of its popularity as both a community and a town. With its rich and diverse history, and a seemingly innate ability to adapt over time to resources and demand, Lowestoft is firmly established as a town of substantial geographical and historical importance, an attractive tourist destination and a hub for future industries along the Norfolk and Suffolk coast. Further reading: • Butcher, D. (2008). Lowestoft 1550-1750: Development and Change in a Suffolk Coastal Town. Boydell Press • Gillingwater, E. (2018). Gillingwater’s History of Lowestoft: A Reprint; With a Chapter of More Recent Events by A.E.Murton (Classic Reprint). Forgotten Books. • Malster, R. (1982). Lowestoft: East Port. Terence Dalton; Illustrated Edition • Robb, I.G. (2009). Postwar Lowestoft. The History Press. • Robb, I.G. (2005). Lowestoft: a History and Celebration of the Town. Francis Frith Collection. • Rose, J., Parkin, D. (1999). Lowestoft Now and Then: A Portrait of a 20th Century Town. Rushmere Publishing.



Notable alumni

The Denes High School

Lowestoft Grammar School

References

  1. ↑ Suffolk County Council School Profile. Retrieved 13 November 2009.
  2. ↑ Professor John Bleby, veterinary surgeon - obituary, Daily Telegraph, 14 October 2015. Retrieved 2016-09-05.
  3. ↑ Barker.D (2009) James Hoseason obituary, The Guardian, 7 December 2009. Retrieved 23 December 2011.
  • Website of Ormiston Denes Academy
  • Historic England. "Details from image database (391371)". Images of England.
  • EduBase
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