The Laurel Academy (formerly Mexborough 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 ...

located in

Mexborough Mexborough is a town in the City of Doncaster, City of Doncaster District, South Yorkshire, England, between Manvers and Denaby Main, on the River Don, Yorkshire, River Don close to where it joins the River Dearne, and the A6023 road. It is co ...

South Yorkshire South Yorkshire is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the Yorkshire and the Humber region of England. It borders North Yorkshire and West Yorkshire to the north, the East Riding of Yorkshire to the north-east, Lincolnshire ...

, England.

History

The school was founded in October 1904 as Mexborough and District Secondary School. It became Mexborough Grammar School in 1931. On 7 March 1968 members of the school's sixth form took part in a 25-minute-long television programme, part of a competitive series entitled ''Sixth Sense'', which was broadcast on

BBC One BBC One is a British free-to-air public broadcast television channel owned and operated by the BBC. It is the corporation's oldest and flagship channel, and is known for broadcasting mainstream programming, which includes BBC News television b ...

at 18.40. The students investigated and aired their views on the topics of anti-German prejudice, vivisection, and Christmas cards, and their contributions were judged by Sir

Jack Longland Sir John Laurence Longland (26 June 1905 – 29 November 1993) was a British educator, mountain climber, and broadcaster. After a brilliant student career Longland became a don at Durham University in the 1930s. He formed a lifelong concern for ...

, Sir

Christopher Chataway Sir Christopher John Chataway (31 January 1931 – 19 January 2014) was a British middle- and long-distance runner, television news broadcaster and Conservative politician. Education Chataway was born in Chelsea, London, the son of James Deny ...

and

Mary Holland Mary Holland is an American actress, comedian, and writer. Early life Holland was born and raised in Galax, Virginia. Career After graduating from college, she began performing at the Upright Citizens Brigade Theatre. She is a cast member of ...

. Ten years earlier, a team from Mexborough Grammar had taken part in the

Granada Television ITV Granada, formerly known as Granada Television, is the ITV (TV network), ITV franchisee for the North West of England and Isle of Man. From 1956 to 1968 it broadcast to both the north west and Yorkshire on weekdays only, as ABC Weekend TV, ...

youth discussion programme ''We Want an Answer''. Mexborough Grammar School merged with

Mexborough County Secondary School Mexborough is a town in the City of Doncaster, City of Doncaster District, South Yorkshire, England, between Manvers and Denaby Main, on the River Don, Yorkshire, River Don close to where it joins the River Dearne, and the A6023 road. It is co ...

, 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 1975 and became a comprehensive school. It was known as Mexborough School, and for a period in the early 2000s as Mexborough School Specialist Science College. Previously a community school administered by Doncaster Metropolitan Borough Council, Mexborough School converted to academy status in January 2015 and was renamed Mexborough Academy. It continues to coordinate with Doncaster Metropolitan Borough Council for admissions. The school was sponsored by the

Wakefield City Academies Trust Wakefield City Academies Trust (WCAT) was a multi-academy trust (MAT) that managed 21 schools (14 primary and 7 secondary) across West Yorkshire, South Yorkshire, and the East Riding of Yorkshire. As an academy trust, it was an exempt charity reg ...

(WCAT). In 2016, the school introduced a new logo, which dropped the long-standing

Latin Latin ( or ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally spoken by the Latins (Italic tribe), Latins in Latium (now known as Lazio), the lower Tiber area aroun ...

motto of ''Abeunt Studia in Mores'' (Studies Pass on into Character). Low numbers led to the school's sixth form closing in summer 2017, though it legally remains an 11–18 institution. WCAT announced its intention to disband and give up all its schools, including Mexborough Academy, in September 2017. After a lengthy delay due to the school's

Private Finance Initiative The private finance initiative (PFI) was a United Kingdom government procurement policy aimed at creating "public–private partnerships" (PPPs) where private firms are contracted to complete and manage public projects. Initially launched in 1992 ...

contract, the school was transferred to Delta Academies Trust on 1 November 2018. On 1 December 2018, Delta renamed the school The Laurel Academy.

Notable former pupils

Mexborough Grammar School

* Christopher Bell, CEO of

Ladbrokes Ladbrokes Coral is a British gambling company. Its product offering includes sports betting, online casino, online poker, and online bingo. The Ladbrokes portion of the group was established in 1886, and Coral in 1926. In November 2016, th ...

* Tony Capstick, comedian and broadcaster *

Ted Hughes Edward James Hughes (17 August 1930 – 28 October 1998) was an English poet, translator, and children's writer. Critics frequently rank him as one of the best poets of his generation and one of the twentieth century's greatest writers. He wa ...

, poet and Poet Laureate from 1984–98 * Prof

Jane Humphries Katherine Jane Humphries, CBE FBA (born 9 November 1948), is a Fellow of All Souls College, University of Oxford with the Title of Distinction of professor of economic history. Her research interest has been in economic growth and development a ...

, Professor of Economic History since 2004 at the

University of Oxford The University of Oxford is a collegiate university, collegiate research university in Oxford, England. There is evidence of teaching as early as 1096, making it the oldest university in the English-speaking world and the List of oldest un ...

(

All Souls College, Oxford All Souls College (official name: The College of All Souls of the Faithful Departed, of Oxford) is a constituent college of the University of Oxford in England. Unique to All Souls, all of its members automatically become fellows (i.e., full me ...

), and President from 2010-13 of the

Economic History Society The Economic History Society (EHS) is a learned society that was established at the London School of Economics in 1926 to support the research and teaching of economic history in the United Kingdom and internationally. The society also acts as a ...

Air Vice-Marshal Air vice-marshal (Air Vce Mshl or AVM) is an air officer rank used by some air forces, with origins from the Royal Air Force. The rank is also used by the air forces of many countries which have historical British influence and it is sometime ...

Alan Johnson FRAeS, Commander from 1984-86 of the

RAF Princess Alexandra Hospital RAF Wroughton is a former Royal Air Force airfield near Wroughton, in Wiltshire, England, about south of Swindon. Ministry of Defence aviation activity ceased in 1972. The airfield now belongs to the Science Museum Group and is home to the N ...

RAF Wroughton RAF Wroughton is a former Royal Air Force airfield near Wroughton, in Wiltshire, England, about south of Swindon. Ministry of Defence aviation activity ceased in 1972. The airfield now belongs to the Science Museum Group and is home to the N ...

Harold Massingham Harold W. Massingham (25 October 1932 in Mexborough – 13 March 2011) was an English poet. Life He was the son of H. W. Massingham (a collier from Mexborough). He attended the same Mexborough Grammar School as the Yorkshire poet and Poet Laur ...

, poet *

Chris Moore (illustrator) Christopher Norton Moore (1 June 1947 – 7 February 2025) was a British illustrator, particularly noted for his book covers, especially in the field of science fiction. Moore created cover images for works by many of the most famous authors i ...

, works in science fiction, and created many 1970s album covers *

Angela Morley Angela Morley (10 March 192414 January 2009) was an England, English composer and Conductor (music), conductor who became familiar to BBC Radio listeners in the 1950s under the name of Wally Stott. Morley provided incidental music for ''The Go ...

, award-winning composer, arranger, and conductor *

Brian O'Malley Brian Kevin O'Malley (22 January 1930 – 6 April 1976) was a British Labour Party politician. O'Malley was educated at Mexborough Grammar School A grammar school is one of several different types of school in the history of educatio ...

, Labour MP from 1963-76 for

Rotherham Rotherham ( ) is a market town in South Yorkshire, England. It lies at the confluence of the River Rother, South Yorkshire, River Rother, from which the town gets its name, and the River Don, Yorkshire, River Don. It is the largest settlement ...

* Alan Sunderland, footballer with

Arsenal An arsenal is a place where arms and ammunition are made, maintained and repaired, stored, or issued, in any combination, whether privately or publicly owned. Arsenal and armoury (British English) or armory (American English) are mostly ...

Peter James Thomas Peter James Thomas is a British academic and entrepreneur. Biography Thomas was educated at Mexborough Grammar School, South Yorkshire, York St. John University, the University of Cambridge and the University of Hull. Following a PhD at The ...

, entrepreneur *

John Wall Johnathan Hildred Wall Jr. (born September 6, 1990) is an American professional basketball player who last played for the Los Angeles Clippers of the National Basketball Association (NBA). A Raleigh, North Carolina, native, Wall was chosen with ...

CMG, Ambassador to Paraguay from 1957–59, Author of Weird Fiction Books under his pseudonym Sarban "The Sound of His Horn" - probably the first alternate history novel, Ringstones and other Stories, The Dollmaker Source Time A Falkener, Author Mark Valentine, The South Yorkshire Times, Don And Dearne Magazine

Former teachers

Peter Hardy, Baron Hardy of Wath Peter Hardy, Baron Hardy of Wath (17 July 1931 – 16 December 2003) was a British Labour Party politician. Early life The son of a Wath-upon-Dearne miner, Hardy was educated at Wath Grammar School. He trained as a teacher at Westminster Coll ...

, Labour MP from 1983-97 for Wentworth (taught English) * Dame

Julia Higgins Dame Julia Stretton Higgins (née Downes; born 1 July 1942) is a British polymer scientist. Since 1976, she has been based at the Department of Chemical Engineering at Imperial College London, where (since 2007) she is professor and senior r ...

FRS, Professor of Polymer Science from 1989-2007 at

Imperial College London Imperial College London, also known as Imperial, is a Public university, public research university in London, England. Its history began with Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, Prince Albert, husband of Queen Victoria, who envisioned a Al ...

, and President from 2002-03 of the

Institution of Chemical Engineers The Institution of Chemical Engineers (IChemE) is a global professional engineering institution with 30,000 members in 114 countries. It was founded in 1922 and awarded a Royal Charter in 1957. The Institution has offices in Rugby, Warwickshire, ...

(taught Physics from 1966–68)

References

External links

Laurel Academy official website

{{authority control Academies in Doncaster Mexborough Secondary schools in Doncaster Delta schools 1904 establishments in England