Gosforth Junior High Academy, formerly known as Gosforth West Middle School is a

middle school Middle school, also known as intermediate school, junior high school, junior secondary school, or lower secondary school, is an educational stage between primary school and secondary school. Afghanistan In Afghanistan, middle school includes g ...

Gosforth Gosforth is an area of Newcastle upon Tyne, England, situated north of the Newcastle City Centre, City Centre. It constituted a separate Urban district (Great Britain and Ireland), urban district of Northumberland from 1895 until 1974 before of ...

Newcastle upon Tyne Newcastle upon Tyne, or simply Newcastle ( , Received Pronunciation, RP: ), is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city and metropolitan borough in Tyne and Wear, England. It is England's northernmost metropolitan borough, located o ...

, England. It is the Junior School of

Gosforth Academy Gosforth Academy (formerly Gosforth High School) is an English secondary school in Gosforth, Newcastle upon Tyne. As well as having a sixth form department it is a specialist Language College. Many of its mainstream students come from three la ...

. It is one of three middle schools where students usually transfer to Gosforth Academy. The school is in the West Gosforth electoral ward. It is one of Newcastle's "Special Educational Needs" centres for

Visual Impairment Visual or vision impairment (VI or VIP) is the partial or total inability of visual perception. In the absence of treatment such as corrective eyewear, assistive devices, and medical treatment, visual impairment may cause the individual difficul ...

, along with Regent Farm First School and Gosforth Academy.

History

1937–2005

The school started in 1937, as Gosforth Senior Council School, with separate Boys and Girls Departments. The school changed into a

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 ...

in 1944, due to 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 ...

. The school name became Gosforth County Modern School / Gosforth County Secondary School. The school became Gosforth West Middle School, when Northumberland County Council changed to the

Three-tier education Three-tier education refers to those structures of schooling, which exist in some parts of England, where pupils are taught in three distinct school types as they progress through the education system. Terminology In a three-tier local educa ...

system in 1973.

2005–present

By March 2005, Gosforth West was experiencing some problems and was placed under "Special Measures" 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 ...

. In July 2006 the school had vastly improved and was removed from special measures. In September 2005, Kathryn Thomas (seconded from Gosforth High School) became the schools Acting Headteacher, replacing Paul Hugall. David Sheppard (also seconded from Gosforth High School) became Assistant Headteacher. In September 2006, Gosforth High took over the administration duties of Gosforth West Middle School, in a

Federation A federation (also called a federal state) is an entity characterized by a political union, union of partially federated state, self-governing provinces, states, or other regions under a #Federal governments, federal government (federalism) ...

style agreement. The federation came into action on 1 January 2007. Gosforth West was also renamed as Gosforth Junior High School after the Easter break. The uniform was set to change in September 2007, this included the removal of the tie from the uniform. The PRAISE Code which was introduced at the High School is also in practice at the Junior High School. In March 2009 planning applications to create a new school building were accepted, and later that year building work commenced. By 2011 the school had become an Academy along with the High School, now Gosforth Academy.

Facilities

Gosforth Junior High Academy Key Stage 2 Entrance

As of 2011 Gosforth Junior High is using a new building; this followed East and Central's moves to new facilities. Previously the school had been using the 1930s building as well as some temporary buildings, and the new building was a part of the "

Building Schools for the Future Building Schools for the Future (BSF) was the name given to the British government's investment programme in secondary school buildings in England in the 2000s. Around half of the work was procured under the private finance initiative. The deli ...

" Initiative. A new building is currently being developed. Gosforth Junior High had concrete tennis courts, until in around 2003 the area of land on which it was situated, was used for an additional building for Archibald First School. On 6 June 2007,

David Bellamy David James Bellamy (18 January 1933 – 11 December 2019) was an English academic, botanist, television presenter, author and prominent environmental campaigner in the UK and globally. His distinctive, energetic style of presenting became wel ...

opened the school's re-built wildlife garden, in one of the buildings' quadrangles, which has had contributions from local organisations, such as

Northern Rock Northern Rock, formerly the Northern Rock Building Society, was a British bank. Based at Regent Centre in Newcastle upon Tyne, United Kingdom, Northern Rock was originally a building society. It demutualised and became Northern Rock bank in ...

, The Gosforth Round Table and the school's pupils.

New buildings

A planning application which was submitted on 18 December 2008 by AURA Ltd, a local education partnership company in which the council has a 10% share, was conditionally granted on 20 March 2009. This application was for the "Erection of two-storey school (Class D1) with associated outdoor play areas and 2 hard surfaced games courts, 114 space car park with access and egress onto Regent Avenue, covered cycle parking, pedestrian access onto Jubilee Road and hard and soft landscaping". Building work began in November 2009 and the new school buildings were in use by September 2011.

Ofsted report 2008

Gosforth Junior High was inspected by Ofsted in June 2008, and they remarked that it "is a good and improving school with outstanding features." Other remarks Ofsted had were "The outstanding leadership of the federation, principal and senior managers is continuing to steer the school in the right direction." and The quality of teaching and learning is good and some is outstanding."

Results

The KS2 SATs results score by year are listed below:

Notable alumnus

Gosforth West Middle School

Michael Chopra Rocky Michael Chopra (born 23 December 1983) is an English former professional footballer who played as a striker. A product of the Newcastle United youth system, he spent six years at the club without managing to secure a regular first team ...

centre forward In the sport of association football, a forward (attacker or striker) is an outfield position which primarily plays further up the pitch than midfielders and defenders. As with any attacking player, the role of the forward relies heavily on be ...

for

Ipswich Town F.C. Ipswich Town Football Club is a professional association football, football club based in Ipswich, Suffolk, England. The club currently competes in the EFL Championship, the second tier of English football league system, English football ...

References

External links

*
Gosforth Academy

Gosforth Junior High School Information
at

Newcastle City Council Newcastle City Council is the local authority for the city of Newcastle upon Tyne in the ceremonial county of Tyne and Wear in North East England. Newcastle has had a council from medieval times, which has been reformed on numerous occasions. ...

Gosforth Junior High School
at

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League Tables {{authority control Educational institutions established in 1937 Middle schools in Newcastle upon Tyne Academies in Newcastle upon Tyne 1937 establishments in England