Joyce Frankland Academy, Newport, formerly Newport Free Grammar School, is a school in

Newport, Essex Newport is a village and civil parish in the Uttlesford district in Essex, near Saffron Walden. The village has a population of over 2,000, measured at 2,352 at the 2011 census. Located approximately north of London, the village is situate ...

, England. It was founded in 1588. The school 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 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 ...

. It previously existed in different forms including a

boarding school A boarding school is a school where pupils live within premises while being given formal instruction. The word "boarding" is used in the sense of "room and board", i.e. lodging and meals. They have existed for many centuries, and now extend acr ...

and a

grammar school 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 ...

. The headteacher is Duncan Roberts and the vice headteacher is Ian Stoneham. As of 2012, there were 987 students, including 160 in the sixth form. It takes its current name (since 2012) after Dame Joyce Frankland (1531-1588), the only daughter of goldsmith Robert Trappes, who founded it as the "free Grammer Schole of Newport". Dame Frankland also made a number of educational bequests in her will to colleges at the universities of Oxford and Cambridge.

Specialist and academy status

The school achieved

Specialist A specialist is someone who is an expert in, or devoted to, some specific branch of study or research. Specialist may also refer to: Occupations * Specialist (rank), military rank ** Specialist (Singapore) * Specialist officer, military rank in ...

Language College Language Colleges were introduced in 1995 as part of the specialist schools programme (SSP) in the United Kingdom. The system enabled secondary schools to specialise in certain fields, in this case, modern foreign languages. Schools that successf ...

status in July 2003 from

DfES The Department for Education and Skills (DfES) was a United Kingdom government department between 2001 and 2007, responsible for the education system (including higher education and adult learning) as well as children's services in England. ...

and has been a Language College since September 2003. The school achieved a second specialism in

Science Science is a systematic discipline that builds and organises knowledge in the form of testable hypotheses and predictions about the universe. Modern science is typically divided into twoor threemajor branches: the natural sciences, which stu ...

, commencing 1 September 2008 but this was later lost. The school converted to academy status on 1 September 2012.

Academic standards

In 2011, Newport Free Grammar School was ranked 405th out of the 429 institutions supplying A-Level results to the Daily Telegraph's annual league table based on the percentages of A*, A and B grades achieved. Following an inspection on 15 March 2006,

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 ...

rated the school as ''good'', the second-best grade on its four-point scale. Inspectors said teaching was "sometimes outstanding, even inspirational" in languages and the humanities but needed improvement in mathematics and IT.

Notable former pupils

Max Barrett Arthur Max Barrett, MD (28 July 1909 – 11 December 1961) was a university morbid anatomist and histologist at the University of Cambridge, and an honorary consulting pathologist to the United Cambridge Hospitals and to the East Anglian Reg ...

, morbid anatomist and histologist *

Charles George Broyden Charles George Broyden (3 February 1933 – 20 May 2011) was a mathematician who specialized in optimization problems and numerical linear algebra. While a physicist working at English Electric Company from 1961 to 1965, he adapted the Dav ...

, mathematician * Martin Caton, MP for Gower *

Jimmy Doherty Jimmy Doherty (born 24 May 1975) is an English television presenter and farmer. Doherty is known for the show '' Jimmy's Farm'', detailing the operation of the Essex Pig Company that he and his wife Michaela Furney own in Suffolk. Early life ...

, BBC broadcaster and farmer *

Paul Epworth Paul Richard Epworth (born 25 July 1974) is an English record producer, songwriter, musician, and remixer. He has worked with artists including Adele, Florence and the Machine, Rihanna, and Maxïmo Park, among many others. He is a member of th ...

, music producer *

James Frain James Frain is an English actor. His best known television roles include Thomas Cromwell in the Showtime/CBC historical drama ''The Tudors'' (2007–2009), Franklin Mott in the HBO drama ''True Blood'' (2010), Warwick the Kingmaker in the BB ...

, film actor *

Matt Holland Matthew Rhys Holland (born 11 April 1974) is a former professional footballer who played as a midfielder. He is a director and club ambassador at Ipswich Town. Holland began his career at West Ham United, having previously been with Arsenal's ...

Republic of Ireland Ireland ( ), also known as the Republic of Ireland (), is a country in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe consisting of 26 of the 32 Counties of Ireland, counties of the island of Ireland, with a population of about 5.4 million. ...

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby lea ...

* Kate Johnson, novelist *

Shakila Karim Shakila Karim (; born 13 November 1997) is an English singer-songwriter and musician, known professionally as Shakila K. Early life Karim was born at the Royal London Hospital in Whitechapel, Tower Hamlets, London, England and is of Bangladeshi ...

, singer-songwriter and musician *

Jamie Oliver Jamie Trevor Oliver Order of the Star of Italy, OSI (born 27 May 1975) is an English celebrity chef, restaurateur and cookbook author. He is known for his casual approach to cuisine, which has led him to front numerous television shows and o ...

, television chef and author *

J. W. Pritchard Joseph William Pritchard (5 August 1903 – 13 January 1963) was a British civil servant of the Indian Civil Service and an administrator who served as the Chief Commissioner of Coorg Province from 1940 to 1943. Early life Pritchard was edu ...

, civil servant of the Indian civil service *

Pip Pyle Phillip "Pip" Pyle (4 April 1950 – 28 August 2006) was an English-born drummer from Sawbridgeworth, Hertfordshire, who later resided in France. He is best known for his work in the Canterbury scene bands Gong, Hatfield and the North ...

, drummer with Gong and Hatfield and the North *

Laura Sugar Laura Sugar (born 7 February 1991) is a British Paralympic athlete who is a two time Paralympic champion in the Paracanoe KL3 event . Prior to competing in canoe Sugar competed in Para Athletics in the sprint events under the T44 classificatio ...

, Paralympic athlete * David Sutton, archivist and local politician * Peter Warren, journalist

References

External links

* {{authority control Secondary schools in Essex Educational institutions established in the 1580s 1588 establishments in England Academies in Essex Newport, Essex Specialist language colleges in England