Highfield Leadership Academy is a

co-educational 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 ...

located in Marton,

Blackpool Blackpool is a seaside town in Lancashire, England. It is located on the Irish Sea coast of the Fylde peninsula, approximately north of Liverpool and west of Preston, Lancashire, Preston. It is the main settlement in the Borough of Blackpool ...

Lancashire Lancashire ( , ; abbreviated ''Lancs'') is a ceremonial county in North West England. It is bordered by Cumbria to the north, North Yorkshire and West Yorkshire to the east, Greater Manchester and Merseyside to the south, and the Irish Sea to ...

, England.

History

It was originally known as Highfield High School. In 2004 the Department for Children, Schools and Families (DCSF) awarded the school

specialist school Specialist schools, also known as specialised schools or specialized schools, are schools which specialise in a certain area or field of curriculum. In some countries, for example New Zealand, the term is used exclusively for schools specialis ...

status as a

Humanities College Humanities Colleges are a type of specialist school introduced in 2004 as part of the Specialist Schools Programme in the United Kingdom. The system enabled secondary and primary schools to specialise in certain fields, in this case, humanitie ...

, focusing on the teaching and study of

History History is the systematic study of the past, focusing primarily on the Human history, human past. As an academic discipline, it analyses and interprets evidence to construct narratives about what happened and explain why it happened. Some t ...

Geography Geography (from Ancient Greek ; combining 'Earth' and 'write', literally 'Earth writing') is the study of the lands, features, inhabitants, and phenomena of Earth. Geography is an all-encompassing discipline that seeks an understanding o ...

and

Religious Education In secular usage, religious education is the teaching of a particular religion (although in the United Kingdom the term ''religious instruction'' would refer to the teaching of a particular religion, with ''religious education'' referring to t ...

. The school was subsequently renamed Highfield Humanities College. In 2007 the school featured in the DCSF list of schools that had made the best sustained improvements in their

GCSE The General Certificate of Secondary Education (GCSE) is an academic qualification in a range of subjects taken in England, Wales, and Northern Ireland, having been introduced in September 1986 and its first exams taken in 1988. State schools ...

results over the previous four years. In August/September 2012 the school moved into a new building on the old playing field. The old school building, which stood for nearly eighty years, was demolished shortly after. Previously a community school administered by Blackpool Borough Council, in April 2016 Highfield Humanities College closed and converted to academy status and was renamed Highfield Leadership Academy. The school is now part of

Star Academies Star Academies is a multi-academy trust (MAT) that operates 36 free schools and academies. There are nineteen secondary schools and nine primary schools under the jurisdiction of the trust. As a multi-academy trust, Star Academies is an exemp ...

Academics

Highfield Leadership Academy offers

s as programmes of study for pupils. Unlike other schools in the area, the academy is notable for the number of subjects it offers and expects of its pupils. Whilst most pupils of British secondary schools only study around 6 GCSEs, those at HLA study up to 13. All pupils must study the mandatory subjects (English, Maths, Science etc.) as well as at least one language, a humanities subject (RE, Geography, History) and a computer-based subject. Art subjects remain optional.

Governance and Ofsted

During its time as 'Highfield Humanities College', its philosophy was a more liberal one, hence the name 'college'. During this period, it was considered to be a mid-tier secondary school for the area. This was until 2014, where it was rated '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 ...

. As such, it was ordered to become an academy, and was put in the hands of Tauheedul Education Trust, which is now

. Prior to the takeover, the school was the subject of negative reports from local press, telling of an apparent student riot. The headmistress at the time witnessed to the incident and compared it to the

Hillsborough Disaster The Hillsborough disaster was a fatal crowd crush at a football match at Hillsborough Stadium in Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England, on 15 April 1989. It occurred during an FA Cup semi-final between Liverpool and Nottingham Forest in the tw ...

. In the same year, there was also a case of arson from two pupils, where the entire student body was evacuated and the building flooded by sprinklers. The headmistress later resigned. In February 2019 the school was declared by

to be inadequate on all fronts, with reports of discrimination, failure to tackle bullying, failure to safeguard pupils, and an apparent "overgenerous view of the school’s effectiveness". In September 2019, Ofsted stated that the academy had much improved. In February 2020, Ofsted wrote: After the title of ‘Highfield Humanities College’ was relinquished in 2015, the school moved to the

education trust, which specialises in

Islam Islam is an Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic monotheistic religion based on the Quran, and the teachings of Muhammad. Adherents of Islam are called Muslims, who are estimated to number Islam by country, 2 billion worldwide and are the world ...

ic faith schools, with HLA the first of its partners to be secular.

Notable Person(s)

* Joe Bullock, rugby league player * Steven Croft, cricketer *

Anna Jobarteh Anna Jobarteh is an English actress, known for portraying the role of Ruth Kirby on the BBC school drama '' Waterloo Road''. She also played a role in thriller series ''Paradox'' in 2009, when she played the role of Dionne Hudson. She later starr ...

, actor *

David Thewlis David Wheeler (born 20 March 1963), better known as David Thewlis (), is an English actor and filmmaker. He has appeared in a variety of genres in both film and television. He has received the Cannes Film Festival Award for Best Actor and nomin ...

, actor *

Shelly Woods Rochelle "Shelly" Woods (born 4 June 1986) is an elite British Paralympic athlete from the suburb of Layton in Blackpool, Lancashire. Woods is a T54 athlete who competes as a wheelchair racer in medium and long-distance events. She has compet ...

, paralympian * Helen Mackenzie, OBE * James Cahill, snooker player

References

External links

Highfield Leadership Academy official websiteDepartment for Children, Schools and Families Performance Tables (GCSE and equivalent)
{{authority control Star Academies Secondary schools in Blackpool Academies in Blackpool Educational institutions established in 2016 2016 establishments in England