Grace College (formerly Joseph Swan School, then Joseph Swan Academy) is a mixed

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 ...

with academy status situated in south

Gateshead, England Gateshead () is a town in the Gateshead Metropolitan Borough of Tyne and Wear, England. It is on the River Tyne's southern bank. The town's attractions include the twenty metre tall Angel of the North sculpture on the town's southern outskirts, ...

which educates pupils ages 11–18. The school was originally named after the English physicist and chemist, Sir

Joseph Wilson Swan Sir Joseph Wilson Swan FRS (31 October 1828 – 27 May 1914) was an English physicist, chemist, and inventor. He is known as an independent early developer of a successful incandescent light bulb, and is responsible for developing the fir ...

. In 2001, the school was awarded Specialist Technology College status. In April 2019, Joseph Swan Academy was taken over by

Emmanuel Schools Foundation The Emmanuel Schools Foundation (ESF) is a charitable trust which has been involved in education since 1989. ESF currently run six schools. The four original members of the ESF are: Emmanuel City Technology College in Gateshead (opened 1990), The ...

. As part of its transition into the ESF, it became known as Grace College from September 2019.

History

Breckenbeds Junior High School

Breckenbeds Junior High School was a secondary

school A school is the educational institution (and, in the case of in-person learning, the Educational architecture, building) designed to provide learning environments for the teaching of students, usually under the direction of teachers. Most co ...

on the current school site. The school taught pupils aged 11–14 and acted as a feeder school for Heathfield Senior School. The Breckenbeds site was redeveloped to provide additional capacity for 14-18 year old pupils that had previously studied at the defunct Heathfield Senior High School. The school closed as Breckenbeds in September 1996.

Joseph Swan School

The current school was formed in 1996 as a merger of the Breckenbeds Junior High and Heathfield Senior High schools, becoming the Joseph Swan School. In 2006, the headteacher was Alan Fuller. Average annual enrolment is 1,300 pupils. The annual enrolment for year 2007/2008 is of 1460 pupils, including Sixth formers. As of March 2012, Joseph Swan School became Joseph Swan Academy.

About

The school has a range of after school projects and activities. As of March 2007 the school has an operative

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 ...

detachment part of

Durham Durham most commonly refers to: *Durham, England, a cathedral city in north east England **County Durham, a ceremonial county which includes Durham *Durham, North Carolina, a city in North Carolina, United States Durham may also refer to: Places ...

Army Cadet Force The Army Cadet Force (ACF), generally shortened to Army Cadets, is a national Youth organisations in the United Kingdom, youth organisation sponsored by the United Kingdom's Ministry of Defence (United Kingdom), Ministry of Defence and the Bri ...

. The School Detachment is part of 5th Platoon in B Company. As well as the

detachment, the school is host to the Academy Band of the Band and Bugles of

which welcomes musicians aged 12–18. In April 2019, Joseph Swan Academy joined the

. As part of the school joining ESF, it has been renamed Grace College.

Notable former pupils

Breckenbeds Junior High

Paul Gascoigne Paul John Gascoigne (, born 27 May 1967), nicknamed Gazza, is an English former professional footballer who played as an attacking midfielder. Regarded as one of the best playmakers of his generation and one of the best English footballers of ...

* Steve Stone *

John Wilson John Wilson may refer to: Academics * John Wilson (historian) (1799–1870), author of ''Our Israelitish Origin'' (1840), a founding text of British Israelism * John Wilson (agriculturalist) (1812–1888), British agriculturalist * John Matthias ...

, conductor

Joseph Swan School / Academy

Andy Carroll Andrew Thomas Carroll (born 6 January 1989) is an English professional footballer who plays as a striker for Championnat National 2 club Bordeaux. He has played in the Premier League and English Football League for Newcastle United, Preston No ...

* Hayden Coulson * Scott Fenwick * Liam Henderson

References

External links

*
Ofsted Reports
{{authority control Secondary schools in Gateshead Academies in Gateshead Emmanuel Schools Foundation