Ark Alexandra, previously known as Hastings Grammar School, William Parker School, William Parker Sports College, and later as Ark William Parker is a

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 ...

Hastings Hastings ( ) is a seaside town and Borough status in the United Kingdom, borough in East Sussex on the south coast of England, east of Lewes and south east of London. The town gives its name to the Battle of Hastings, which took place to th ...

East Sussex East Sussex is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Kent to the north-east, West Sussex to the west, Surrey to the north-west, and the English Channel to the south. The largest settlement ...

in the United Kingdom. It was the only male single-sex secondary school in East Sussex. It is now a co-educational Academy spread over two sites following the merger of Ark Helenswood Academy and Ark William Parker on 1 September 2019.

History

In 1619 The Rev. William Parker, Rector of All Saints Church, Hastings died, leaving a will which said: :''"I give unto the Mayor, Jurates and Comynaltye of Hastings and to their successors for ever towards the maynteynance of a Religious and godlie Schoolemaster in the sayd towne w'ch shall instructe and teach the youthe of the Inhabitants of Hastings in learninge, manners and other vertuous education to gette their livinge. To which sayd use I give all my land in the parishe of Oer."'' This is taken as the foundation of the school, although Parker's will also stated that his widow should enjoy the income from all his property until her death, so no money was available to appoint the first master until twenty years later. The will stipulated that the master should be chosen by the jurates (town councillors) living within the parish of All Saints, rather than by the town council as a whole, and by any heir of William Parker still living in Hastings. Parker's nephew William became Mayor of Hastings, and his nephew's son (also William) later became master of the school.

Titus Oates Titus Oates (15 September 1649 – 12/13 July 1705) was an English priest who fabricated the "Popish Plot", a supposed Catholic conspiracy to kill King Charles II. Early life Titus Oates was born at Oakham in Rutland. His father was the Baptis ...

, son of the rector of All Saints, Samuel Oates, and later infamous for fabricating the notorious

Popish Plot The Popish Plot was a fictitious conspiracy invented by Titus Oates that between 1678 and 1681 gripped the kingdoms of England and Scotland in anti-Catholic hysteria. Oates alleged that there was an extensive Catholic conspiracy to assassinat ...

, started his career by bringing false charges against both William Parkers in an attempt to create a vacancy for the post of master. Records of early masters are incomplete, but in 1759 John Shorter was appointed master, once again by another William Parker, mayor elect. In 1708 a

Kent Kent is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Essex across the Thames Estuary to the north, the Strait of Dover to the south-east, East Sussex to the south-west, Surrey to the west, and Gr ...

ish landowner by the name of James Saunders made various charitable legacies in his will, including provisions for a schoolmaster in

Rye Rye (''Secale cereale'') is a grass grown extensively as a grain, a cover crop and a forage crop. It is grown principally in an area from Eastern and Northern Europe into Russia. It is much more tolerant of cold weather and poor soil than o ...

and a schoolmaster and two school mistresses in Hastings. One of the mistresses was to teach 30 pupils in the parish of All Saints and the other in the parish of St Clements, at a salary of £10 per year. The master was to teach reading, writing, Latin, accounting, mathematics and navigation to any poor child in Hastings "from the Seagate next the Fish Market", at a salary of £40 per year, subject to a maximum of 70 pupils. Saunders stipulated that the corporation of each of the towns concerned should oversee the way the other operated their school, with the penalty for failing to comply with the terms of the bequest that all the funds should go to the other town. Hastings Grammar School around 1900

Falling income from the two charities meant that by 1809 one master, Joseph Hannay, was employed to teach forty boys on behalf of the Parker school, and fifteen for the Saunders school. The Saunders fund continued to pay two schoolmistresses ten pounds each per year, while the master received three pounds per child. Local complaints about the low rents being charged by the corporation for the Parker fund lands had led to increases from £49 in 1787 to £134 in 1809, but the council also turned down an offer from one James Halloway to rent the estate for £205. Thomas Breeds, another prominent local man, applied to the High Court of Chancery arguing that the funds were being improperly administered, with the result that he himself rented them for £210, no higher bid being received at a

public auction A government auction or a public auction is an auction held on behalf of a government in which the property to be auctioned is either property owned by the government or property which is sold under the authority of a court of law or a governmen ...

. The expenses of the case were paid by the funds, with the result that the Saunders school had to close for five years, but afterwards two separate masters were appointed. The two were permanently re-merged in 1878, together with part of the Magdalen trust, to form the ''Hastings Grammar School Foundation''. A Victorian

Gothic Revival Gothic Revival (also referred to as Victorian Gothic or neo-Gothic) is an Architectural style, architectural movement that after a gradual build-up beginning in the second half of the 17th century became a widespread movement in the first half ...

building was constructed by John Howell & Son to the design of Jeffery & Skiller on a slope overlooking Hastings, at Standen's High Field which became Nelson road, and occupied in July 1883. The school was originally designed as a central tower with wings either side. Owing to lack of funds, the wing intended as accommodation for the headmaster and boarders was never built. In July 2024, a bus driver hired by the school was annoyed by the behaviour of children on his bus, and he broke into using abusive languages towards the children.

Modern educational reforms

Following the

Education Act 1902 The Education Act 1902 ( 2 Edw. 7. c. 42), also known as the Balfour Act, was a highly controversial act of Parliament that set the pattern of elementary education in England and Wales for four decades. It was brought to Parliament by a Conserva ...

, the school began to receive a grant from the British Government. Under the

Education Act 1944 The Education Act 1944 ( 7 & 8 Geo. 6. c. 31) made major changes in the provision and governance of secondary schools in England and Wales. It is also known as the Butler Act after the President of the Board of Education, R. A. Butler. Histori ...

, secondary schools in England were reorganised in three categories:

grammar schools A grammar school is one of several different types of school in the history of education in the United Kingdom and other English-speaking countries, originally a Latin school, school teaching Latin, but more recently an academically oriented Se ...

technical school A vocational school (alternatively known as a trade school, or technical school), is a type of educational institution, which, depending on the country, may refer to either secondary or post-secondary education designed to provide vocationa ...

s, and

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 ...

s. The school was naturally classed as a grammar school under this scheme, and had

voluntary aided A voluntary aided school (VA school) is a state-funded school in England and Wales in which a foundation or trust (usually a religious organisation) contributes to building costs and has a substantial influence in the running of the school. In m ...

status: in other words the income from the Foundation was supplemented by a grant from the Local Education Authority. From now on, admission to the school was solely via the

eleven-plus The eleven-plus (11+) is a standardised examination administered to some students in England and Northern Ireland in their last year of primary education, which governs admission to grammar schools and other secondary schools which use academi ...

examination, and education was free (previously there had been fees of five

guinea Guinea, officially the Republic of Guinea, is a coastal country in West Africa. It borders the Atlantic Ocean to the west, Guinea-Bissau to the northwest, Senegal to the north, Mali to the northeast, Côte d'Ivoire to the southeast, and Sier ...

s a year). Classes were held six days a week, with no lessons on Wednesday and Saturday afternoons. Saturday morning school was abolished in 1967.

Voluntary controlled status

In 1959 the school governors decided to change the status of the school from voluntary aided to

voluntary controlled A voluntary controlled school (VC school) is a state-funded school in England and Wales in which a foundation or trust (usually a Christian denomination) has some formal influence in the running of the school. Such schools have less autonomy th ...

. The school was now controlled by a board of ten governors appointed by the borough of Hastings and five appointed by the charitable foundation. The charitable funds remained under the control of the foundation governors, but responsibility for providing buildings now fell to the education authority. A new modern building was constructed further from the town centre, on of land which had long been used as the school's playing fields. The new school was designed for 570 boys, including a sixth form of 120, and is now the Parkstone Road half of the school. The foundation stone of the new school was laid on 4 July 1962, and the school occupied in 1964.

Comprehensive school

The incoming Labour government of 1965 introduced a change in national education policy intended to phase out grammar school education and replace it with

comprehensive education Comprehensive may refer to: * Comprehensive layout, the page layout of a proposed design as initially presented by the designer to a client. *Comprehensive school A comprehensive school is a secondary school for pupils aged 11–16 or 11–18, th ...

. This was resisted by the borough of Hastings, but local government reorganisation under the following Conservative administration meant that the autonomous county borough was abolished and replaced by East Sussex County Council (ESCC) as the education authority. A decision was taken by ESCC to change to a comprehensive school system, and at the same time to merge the school with Hastings Secondary School for Boys (HSSB) known locally as "Priory Road". A further new building was constructed on the same site, but reached by a separate road entrance in Park Avenue. The school was renamed "The William Parker School" and had its first comprehensive system intake in 1978. This first year of comprehensive students were temporarily taught in the former Hastings Secondary School for Boys site located in Priory Road, with occasional lessons held at the former grammar school site while the new building was being completed, and moved across to the new location for 1979 start of the school year.

College

In 1998, the school achieved specialist Sports College status, following the new opening of an athletics arena. Towards 2000 the Alan Booth Jones Cricket centre opened, which featured indoor cricket and other sports facilities used both by the school and externally. In 2006, the school re-instated the roles of Head Boy, Deputy Head Boy and Prefects for the Year 7-11 year group. They were chosen from Year 11 and distinguished from the rest of the year group by their tie, which was dark blue with the school crest. In 2013, William Parker Sports College was graded 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 ...

and Her Majesty's Chief Inspector of Education, Children's Care and Skills placed the college into Special Measures. As a result, the Secretary of State issued an academy order in accordance with Section 44 of the

Education Act 2005 The Education Act 2005 (c. 18) is an act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Introduced under the second Tony Blair government, it was enacted in order to simplify the process of school improvement, strengthening the accountability framewo ...

Academy

In 2013, the

governing body A governing body is a group of people that has the authority to exercise governance over an organization or political entity. The most formal is a government, a body whose sole responsibility and authority is to make binding decisions in a taken ...

applied with Ark to become an

academy An academy (Attic Greek: Ἀκαδήμεια; Koine Greek Ἀκαδημία) is an institution of tertiary education. The name traces back to Plato's school of philosophy, founded approximately 386 BC at Akademia, a sanctuary of Athena, the go ...

. On 1 September 2013, ARK William Parker opened, replacing William Parker Sports College, with a capacity of 1400 including a sixth form of 200 places. The school shared a

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 Ark Helenswood which at its latest inspection was graded Good and shares the highest results, for progress, in

. After becoming an Ark academy, the school received two Section 5

inspections each grading the school Requires Improvement and despite encouraging signs of improvement, it was plagued by a falling roll, budget deficits and high staff turnover. From its inception as an

in 2013 to its merger in 2019, the academy had been led by four Principals. Daniel Hatley served as the second principal of Ark William Parker, however, he had been appointed as the principal by East Sussex County Council of William Parker Sports College prior to the school's conversion into a Sponsored Academy. He later became the Associate Principal and, finally, the Principal again of Ark WIlliam Parker. In 2017, Ofsted praised the 'School leaders, governors and members of the academy trust' for 'focusing on the right things' leading to 'already encouraging signs of improvement.' However, the academy still maintained its Requires Improvement judgement. While the final results of Ark William Parker moved in line with the national average (2018–19), the school had continually performed below the government's floor standards. Attendance, however, had improved by 2018 to the joint highest in East Sussex. In 2018–19, Ark William Parker achieved the second highest results in Hastings with an average Progress 8 score finishing above the largest academies in Hastings,

The St Leonards Academy The St Leonards Academy is a coeducational secondary school with academy status, located in the St Leonards-on-Sea area of Hastings in East Sussex. The St Leonards Academy was established in September 2011 from a merger of Filsham Valley Schoo ...

and The Hastings Academy.

Ark Alexandra

After continual budget deficits, Ark took the contentious decision to bring Ark Helenswood and Ark William Parker together as one school on two sites. The Helenswood campus would house KS3, years 7-8 and the William Parker campus years 9-13 which includes the sixth form. The Minister approved this proposed merger on 19 December 2018 and on 1 September 2019, Ark Helenswood closed and merged with Ark William Parker. Ark Alexandra assumed the legal identity of Ark William Parker with an expanded ''co-educational'' capacity of 2100 students across two sites and it opened on 1 September 2019. The Principal and Executive Principal of Ark William Parker assumed their same roles at Ark Alexandra Academy and they are assisted by an Associate Regional Principal and a Regional Director. In January 2020, the Principal, Stephanie Newman, announced she was stepping back. She was appointed in 2017 as the Acting Principal which makes her the longest serving Principal of Ark William Parker.

Campus

After Ark Helenswood merged into Ark William Parker to become Ark Alexandra, the academy now educates students across two sites: the Helenswood (Lower) Campus and the William Parker (Upper) Campus. Below are the details of the William Parker Campus:

Upper Block

* Art * Science * History *English *French * Food Technology * Cricket Pavilion and Sports field. * Sociology * Sex Education

Middle Block

The middle block is the newest classroom building on the site and it houses the library and two IT classrooms. * Library * Geography * Spanish *Government & Politics *History

Lower Block

The lower block is a 1/2 storey building with a 'bare-brick' style. The classrooms here are: Mathematics, DT, Graphics, ICT, Business, Economics, Politics, Drama, PE and SEN (Special Educational Needs). Also on the Lower School grounds is a Sports Centre, Engineers Garage and Athletics Track. The lessons taught in the Lower block are: * Business and Economics * Mathematics * Design Technology * Graphics * Literacy * RE * ICT * History * PE * PSHE * ISEND * Music

Other facilities

* 465 computers for student use * Drama studio * Nine science laboratories * Three Art and design suites * Fully equipped graphics studio capable of working with up to 28 students * Open-plan Resource and Library Centre * Air-conditioned classrooms * New Sports Centre * Old Sports Hall * Classrooms equipped with interactive whiteboards * ABJ indoor cricket school (built in commemoration of Alan Booth Jones) * Dance Studio * Small theatre * Train 2 Learn Centre * William Parker Community Athletics Arena

Sports, clubs, and traditions

William Parker

Apart from

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

and

cricket Cricket is a Bat-and-ball games, bat-and-ball game played between two Sports team, teams of eleven players on a cricket field, field, at the centre of which is a cricket pitch, pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two Bail (cr ...

, many other sports are played like Rugby, Badminton and Basketball. William Parker was divided into three

houses A house is a single-unit residential building. It may range in complexity from a rudimentary hut to a complex structure of wood, masonry, concrete or other material, outfitted with plumbing, electrical, and heating, ventilation, and air condi ...

for sporting events and for students to wear during PE lessons. Houses haven't been decided yet The house system was incorporated into the pastoral system for 2017-18 and 2018–19, and as a result, there were three Heads of Houses with responsibility for charity fundraising and house events as well as, the behaviour, attendance and tutor activities of students in their house.

Ark Alexandra Academy

Ark Alexandra maintains William Parker's

Church of England The Church of England (C of E) is the State religion#State churches, established List of Christian denominations, Christian church in England and the Crown Dependencies. It is the mother church of the Anglicanism, Anglican Christian tradition, ...

distinctiveness and aims to preserve and build on the legacy of both William Parker and Helenswood. It has five houses including two from William Parker, however, the house system has yet to be embedded into the academy fully. The school has three values: Faith, Excellence and Kindness.

Notable former pupils

Hastings Grammar School

* Archibald Belaney (1888–1938), who emigrated to Canada, claimed to be half-

Apache The Apache ( ) are several Southern Athabaskan language-speaking peoples of the Southwestern United States, Southwest, the Southern Plains and Northern Mexico. They are linguistically related to the Navajo. They migrated from the Athabascan ho ...

, and wrote a number of books under the name of Grey Owl * Timothy Booth Jones (born 1952), Sussex cricketer * Sir Herbert Butcher,

National Liberal National liberalism is a variant of liberalism, combining liberal policies and issues with elements of nationalism. Historically, national liberalism has also been used in the same meaning as conservative liberalism (right-liberalism). A serie ...

MP for Holland with Boston from 1937 to 1966 * Michael Jabez Foster, Labour MP for Hastings and Rye from 1997 to 2010 *

Simon Fuller Simon Robert Fuller (born 17 May 1960) is a British entrepreneur, artist manager, and film and television producer. He is the creator of the Idols (franchise), ''Idols'' TV format, including the British series ''Pop Idol'' and the American ser ...

, Manager of The

Spice Girls The Spice Girls are an English girl group formed in 1994, consisting of Mel B ("Scary Spice"), Melanie C ("Sporty Spice"), Emma Bunton ("Baby Spice"), Geri Halliwell ("Ginger Spice"), and Victoria Beckham ("Posh Spice"). They have sold over 10 ...

and

David Beckham Sir David Robert Joseph Beckham ( ; born 2 May 1975) is an English former professional footballer, the president and co-owner of Inter Miami CF and co-owner of Salford City. Primarily a right winger and known for his range of passing, cross ...

; creator of "

Pop Idol ''Pop Idol'' is a British music competition television series created by Simon Fuller which ran on ITV from 2001 to 2003. The aim of the show was to decide the best new young pop singer (or "pop idol") in the UK based on viewer voting and pa ...

" * Simon Kirby, Conservative MP for Brighton Kemptown from 2010 to 2017 * Walter Lawson, a

flying ace A flying ace, fighter ace or air ace is a military aviation, military aviator credited with shooting down a certain minimum number of enemy aircraft during aerial combat; the exact number of aerial victories required to officially qualify as an ...

with the

Royal Air Force The Royal Air Force (RAF) is the Air force, air and space force of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies. It was formed towards the end of the World War I, First World War on 1 April 1918, on the merger of t ...

during the Second World War * Alan Oakman, England and Sussex cricketer. Played in the famous 1956 Old Trafford test against Australia when Jim Laker took 19 wickets * Sir David Penry-Davey, judge at the

High Court of Justice The High Court of Justice in London, known properly as His Majesty's High Court of Justice in England, together with the Court of Appeal (England and Wales), Court of Appeal and the Crown Court, are the Courts of England and Wales, Senior Cour ...

* Arthur Spencer Roberts, painter * Paddy Tomkins, Chief Constable of

Lothian and Borders Police Lothian and Borders Police was the territorial police force for the Scottish council areas of the City of Edinburgh, East Lothian, Midlothian, Scottish Borders and West Lothian between 1975 and 2013. The force's headquarters were in Fett ...

from 2002 to 2007; HM Chief Inspector of Constabulary for Scotland from 2007 to 2009

William Parker School

* Kevin Ball, former Portsmouth and Sunderland football player. First man from Hastings to play in top flight English football. Now a coach as Sunderland. *

Gareth Barry Gareth Barry (born 23 February 1981) is an English professional footballer who plays as a midfielder for Mid Sussex League Championship side Hurstpierpoint. He made 653 Premier League appearances for Aston Villa, Manchester City, Everton and ...

, England and Manchester City football player. *

Darren Boyd Darren John Boyd is a British actor who starred in the Sky One series '' Spy'', for which he won BAFTA TV Award for Best Male Comedy Performance. His work in television and film spans comedy and drama. Early life Boyd was born in Hastings, Su ...

, actor * Steve Cook, Bournemouth footballer *

Jake and Dinos Chapman Iakovos "Jake" Chapman (born 1966) and Konstantinos "Dinos" Chapman (born 1962) are British visual artists, previously known as the Chapman Brothers. Their art explores deliberately shocking subject matters; for instance, in 2008, they produc ...

, artists *

John Digweed Thomas John Digweed (born April 1967) is a British DJ and record producer. As well as achieving success as a solo act, he has collaborated with Sasha as Sasha & John Digweed, and with Nick Muir as Bedrock. Digweed was voted as No. 1 DJ in DJ ...

, British DJ and record producer * Dean Hammond, current Southampton FC captain and was formerly Brighton & Hove Albion captain. * Shwan Jalal, Bournemouth football player. * Michael Yardy, England and Sussex cricket player. * Martin Owen, professional musician, French Horn.

Notable former teachers

* John Banks, master of the Parker school from 1848 to 1878, wrote a book in his retirement recounting his youthful activities as a smuggler, learning about hydrostatics while engaged in watering down smuggled over-proof brandy. * Sion Jenkins, former deputy head, acquitted of the

murder of Billie-Jo Jenkins Billie-Jo Margaret Jenkins (29 March 1983 – 15 February 1997)''England & Wales, Civil Registration Death Index, 1916–2007'' was an English girl who was murdered in Hastings, East Sussex in February 1997. The case gained widespread media att ...

References

External links

Ark Alexandra Academy

Community athletics arena
{{authority control 1619 establishments in England Educational institutions established in the 1610s Buildings and structures in Hastings Secondary schools in East Sussex Church of England secondary schools in the Diocese of Chichester Academies in East Sussex Ark schools