Skegness Academy is a

coeducational Mixed-sex education, also known as mixed-gender education, co-education, or coeducation (abbreviated to co-ed or coed), is a system of education where males and females are educated together. Whereas single-sex education was more common up to ...

secondary school A secondary school, high school, or senior school, is an institution that provides secondary education. Some secondary schools provide both ''lower secondary education'' (ages 11 to 14) and ''upper secondary education'' (ages 14 to 18), i.e., b ...

and

sixth form In the education systems of Barbados, England, Jamaica, Northern Ireland, Trinidad and Tobago, Wales, and some other Commonwealth countries, sixth form represents the final two years of secondary education, ages 16 to 18. Pupils typically prepa ...

with academy status, in

Skegness Skegness ( ) is a seaside town and civil parish in the East Lindsey District of Lincolnshire, England. On the Lincolnshire coast of the North Sea, the town is east of Lincoln and north-east of Boston. With a population of 21,128 as of 2021 ...

Lincolnshire Lincolnshire (), abbreviated ''Lincs'', is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the East Midlands and Yorkshire and the Humber regions of England. It is bordered by the East Riding of Yorkshire across the Humber estuary to th ...

, England.

History

Secondary modern schools

Skegness Secondary School opened in 1932. By 1951, the school was overcrowded. By 1956 around 720 children in Skegness would need secondary modern education. The secondary school could not be enlarged to hold 720 children, so John Birkbeck, the director of education of Lindsey Education Committee proposed a new two-form mixed

secondary modern school A secondary modern school () is a type of secondary school that existed throughout England, Wales and Northern Ireland from 1944 until the 1970s under the Tripartite System. Secondary modern schools accommodated the majority (70–75%) of pupil ...

by 1956. On Friday 13 April 1956 Lindsey Education Committee decided to call the former secondary modern school the Lumley Secondary Modern School, and the new secondary modern would be the Morris Secondary Modern School, named after Canon A.H. Morris, the former rector of Skegness. The new head of the Morris school would be Ronald Johnson from

Macclesfield Macclesfield () is a market town and civil parish in the unitary authority of Cheshire East, Cheshire, England. It is sited on the River Bollin and the edge of the Cheshire Plain, with Macclesfield Forest to its east; the town lies south of Ma ...

, who had been headteacher of Winterton Secondary Modern School for seven years. Morris Secondary School opened with 240 children, with places for 300. Ronald Johnson had served in the war as a Captain with the

Royal Artillery The Royal Regiment of Artillery, commonly referred to as the Royal Artillery (RA) and colloquially known as "The Gunners", is one of two regiments that make up the artillery arm of the British Army. The Royal Regiment of Artillery comprises t ...

. He moved to the Army Education Corps, working at the headquarters in

Jerusalem Jerusalem is a city in the Southern Levant, on a plateau in the Judaean Mountains between the Mediterranean Sea, Mediterranean and the Dead Sea. It is one of the List of oldest continuously inhabited cities, oldest cities in the world, and ...

, and lectured at the Army College of Education in

Haifa Haifa ( ; , ; ) is the List of cities in Israel, third-largest city in Israel—after Jerusalem and Tel Aviv—with a population of in . The city of Haifa forms part of the Haifa metropolitan area, the third-most populous metropolitan area i ...

. He mentioned to the children of his knowledge of

Bethlehem Bethlehem is a city in the West Bank, Palestine, located about south of Jerusalem, and the capital of the Bethlehem Governorate. It had a population of people, as of . The city's economy is strongly linked to Tourism in the State of Palesti ...

and

Nazareth Nazareth is the largest Cities in Israel, city in the Northern District (Israel), Northern District of Israel. In its population was . Known as "the Arab capital of Israel", Nazareth serves as a cultural, political, religious, economic and ...

. The Morris school opened Tuesday 4 September 1956, on Church Road, being built by Adkins of Boston.; it was officially opened by the Earl of Scarbrough on Monday 30 September 1957, with the chairman of

Lindsey County Council Lindsey County Council was the county council of Lindsey, one of the three Parts of Lincolnshire in eastern England. It came into its powers on 1 April 1889 and was abolished on 1 April 1974. The county council was initially based at the County Ha ...

, Sir Weston Cracroft-Amcotts, of

Kettlethorpe Hall Kettlethorpe Hall is a Victorian house in Kettlethorpe, Lincolnshire, noted for its connection to Katherine Swynford, Duchess of Lancaster. It encloses fragments of the former manor house including the medieval gatehouse, within the surviving m ...

. Mr T Bagshaw, the deputy head of Ullswater School, in Penrith, took over as headteacher in June 1966, when Ronald Johnson resigned, due to ill health. Mr Bagshaw moved in January 1973. Brian Drinkall, deputy head of the

William Allitt School William Allitt Academy (formerly William Allitt School), is a co-educational secondary school A secondary school, high school, or senior school, is an institution that provides secondary education. Some secondary schools provide both ''lo ...

in south

Derbyshire Derbyshire ( ) is a ceremonial county in the East Midlands of England. It borders Greater Manchester, West Yorkshire, and South Yorkshire to the north, Nottinghamshire to the east, Leicestershire to the south-east, Staffordshire to the south a ...

, took over in January 1974.

Merger

Lumley merged with Morris to form the Earl of Scarbrough High School in 1986. The Earl of Scarbrough High School was officially opened on Tuesday 7 November. A new £400,000 block was built from 1995, to open in 1996. Skegness Earl of Scarbrough High School continued until 2004 when it was closed, and reopened as St Clements College.

Academy

This 'fresh start' school converted to academy status in 2010, being one of the first academy schools in England, and was renamed Skegness Academy. The Skegness Academy is part of the

Greenwood Academies Trust The Greenwood Academies Trust is a large multi-academy trust in England, centred around the Nottingham Academy, which was formerly the Greenwood Dale School. There are 34 academies within the trust, educating over 17,000 pupils. The trust's mi ...

. In 2017 Skegness Academy was found 'inadequate' by

Ofsted The Office for Standards in Education, Children's Services and Skills (Ofsted) is a non-ministerial department of His Majesty's government, reporting to Parliament. Ofsted's role is to make sure that organisations providing education, training ...

but has 'ambitious plan for improvement'. Skegness Academy has since been monitored closely by Ofsted. In January 2020, Ofsted did a full inspection and acknowledged that the improvements had been put in place, but would take time to show effect. As a result, the school was removed from special measures as is now rated as 'requiring improvement'.

Curriculum

A higher proportion than average enter the school with attainment that is significantly below the national average need support to effectively to develop literacy and numeracy skills. During Key Stage 3, pupils are taught English, mathematics, science, geography, history, RE, modern foreign languages, ICT, technology (including food technology), expressive arts (music, drama), art and PE. Key Stage 3 includes years 7, 8, and 9. Twenty minutes a day is devoted to a recreational reading session (Drop Everything and Read). In years 10 and 11, pupils choose four subjects to go with the core subjects Maths, English, Science, in either Level 2 BTEC or GCSE format, and PE.

Pathways

At Sixth Form three pathways are offered, students can take the Academic Pathway with A-Levels for university entry, the Core Level 3 pathway which includes Level 3 BTECs and can also retake GCSE Maths and English if they have not achieved a Level 4 grade or above at Year 11. There is a Level 2 pathway offering vocational courses The Sixth Form has a 100% pass rate across all Level 3 courses.

Notable former pupils

Lumley Secondary Modern School

Ray Clemence Raymond Neal Clemence (5 August 1948 – 15 November 2020) was an English professional footballer who played as a goalkeeper. Regarded as one of the greatest goalkeepers of all time, he is one of the few players to have made over 1,000 career ...

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

and

Liverpool Liverpool is a port City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. It is situated on the eastern side of the River Mersey, Mersey Estuary, near the Irish Sea, north-west of London. With a population ...

goalkeeper throughout the 1970s

Morris Secondary Modern School

Graham Bonnet Graham Bonnet (born 23 December 1947) is an English rock singer. He has recorded and performed as a solo artist and as a member of several hard rock and heavy metal music, heavy metal bands including Rainbow (rock band), Rainbow, Michael Schenke ...

(1958–64), rock singer, known for the 1979 song ''

Since You Been Gone "Since You Been Gone" is a song written by former Argent vocalist and guitarist Russ Ballard and first released on his 1976 album ''Winning''. It was covered by Rainbow in 1979 and released as a single from their album '' Down to Earth''. Rain ...

Earl of Scarbrough High School

Jason Atherton Jason Atherton (born 6 September 1971) is an English chef and restaurateur. His flagship restaurant Pollen Street Social gained a Michelin Star in 2011, its opening year, and retained it until its closure in 2024. He was the Executive Chef at ...

, chef *

Helen Dobson Helen Dobson (born 25 February 1971) is an English professional golfer who played on the LPGA Tour. Dobson won the 1989 British Ladies Amateur. Dobson won once on the LPGA Tour in 1993. She also finished second at the 1998 Nabisco Dinah Shore ...

, golfer''Lincolnshire Echo'' Wednesday 10 August 1988, page 9

References

External links

* {{authority control 1956 establishments in England Academies in Lincolnshire Educational institutions established in 1956 Secondary schools in Lincolnshire Skegness