Outwood Academy Adwick 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 ...

and

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 ...

with academy status located in Woodlands,

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. It has a comprehensive admissions policy, with 1,080 pupils on roll . The school is operated by

Outwood Grange Academies Trust Outwood Grange Academies Trust (OGAT) is a multi-academy trust (MAT) that operates forty schools (twenty-eight secondary and twelve primary) across northern England and the East Midlands. It is an exempt charity, regulated by the Department for ...

, and the current principal is Vicky Gray.

History

By its Resolution 39 of 28 April 1931, for the purpose of building the new school the Education Committee of the

West Riding County Council West Riding County Council (WRCC) was the county council of the administrative county of the West Riding of Yorkshire from 1 April 1889 to 31 March 1974. The council met at County Hall in Wakefield. The county council had jurisdiction over the ...

decided to purchase 21 acres of land in Windmill Balk Lane,

Adwick-le-Street Adwick le Street is a village in the City of Doncaster, South Yorkshire, England. It is situated north-west of Doncaster. It had a population of 2,815 as of 2014. Adwick lends its name to the wider Adwick le Street & Carcroft (ward), Adwick le ...

from the owner of

Brodsworth Hall Brodsworth Hall, near Brodsworth, north-west of Doncaster in South Yorkshire, is one of the most complete surviving examples of a Victorian country house in England. It is virtually unchanged since the 1860s. It was designed in the Italiana ...

. The school was founded by J. W. 'Jimmy' Lane JP (1877–1969), alderman of the West Riding and a check weighman at

Brodsworth Colliery Brodsworth Colliery was a coal mine north west of Doncaster and west of the Great North Road. in South Yorkshire, England. Two shafts were sunk between October 1905 and 1907 in a joint venture by the Hickleton Main Colliery Company and the Stav ...

. It was named after alderman Sir Percy Jackson, an active proponent of education on the

in the 1920s and 1930s. Designed as 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 ...

state

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 Percy Jackson Grammar School was housed in modern

Art Deco Art Deco, short for the French (), is a style of visual arts, architecture, and product design that first Art Deco in Paris, appeared in Paris in the 1910s just before World War I and flourished in the United States and Europe during the 1920 ...

style premises. The two-storey building was designed to accommodate 540 pupils and was constructed of steel framing, bearing concrete floors and flat roofs. The total cost of the site, buildings and equipment was approximately £62,000. Elizabeth Hall IMG pjgs 0001b c 1944

The school opened for instruction on 9 October 1939, just weeks after the outbreak of

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

. The first year's intake of pupils was 86, many being transferred from other schools in the area. Of these, 62 joined the first form and the others the second and third forms. Whilst the school was recruiting pupils, there was space for wartime evacuees and these came from the London area as well as from Hull. The Riley High School in Hull evacuated 100 boys and six teachers and operated as a parallel school within the premises. Two boys from mainland Europe arrived via the

Kindertransport The ''Kindertransport'' (German for "children's transport") was an organised rescue effort of children from Nazi Nazism (), formally named National Socialism (NS; , ), is the far-right politics, far-right Totalitarianism, total ...

one of whom was Siegfried Franz Spira later known as

Fred Spira Fred Spira (1924–2007) was an inventor and innovator in photography as well as a collector of photographic equipment, images, books, and ephemera. He is credited as one of three individuals who opened up the U.S. market to quality Japanese photo ...

. Several teachers saw service in

, notably Capt W. R. F. Cockroft,

Military Cross The Military Cross (MC) is the third-level (second-level until 1993) military decoration awarded to officers and (since 1993) Other ranks (UK), other ranks of the British Armed Forces, and formerly awarded to officers of other Commonwealth of ...

, and Fl Lt L. F. Belton, Distinguished Flying Cross. The school was not formally opened until 23 October 1943 (see image of Opening Plaque). Not until five years later was the planned capacity reached and then in 1948 four prefab classrooms were added. In 1954 the new science block was opened with additional laboratories, domestic science rooms and four extra classrooms. The final school population levelled out at around 900 – almost double the original plan. Known as the Percy Jackson

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 ...

from 1939, the school became comprehensive in 1968 when it merged with Adwick High School, 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 ...

which was located next door. The new school was renamed Adwick School. The school was later granted specialist status as a

Technology College In the United Kingdom, a Technology College is a specialist school that specialises in design and technology, mathematics and science. Beginning in 1994, they were the first specialist schools that were not CTC colleges. In 2008, there were 598 ...

and was renamed North Doncaster Technology College. The original Art Deco school premises were demolished in 2013. The school converted to academy status in September 2009 and was renamed Outwood Academy Adwick. In October 2011, work began on a £16 million rebuild. The new school site opened to pupils in February 2013.

Academics

The school is subjected to the same

National Curriculum A national curriculum is a common programme of study in schools that is designed to ensure nationwide uniformity of content and standards in education. It is usually legislated by the national government, possibly in consultation with state or othe ...

restriction found in all UK state-schools, it aims to give all

Key Stage 3 Key Stage 3 (commonly abbreviated as KS3) is the legal term for the three years of schooling in maintained schools in England and Wales normally known as Year 7, Year 8 and Year 9, when pupils are aged between 11 and 14. In Northern Ireland the ...

students a broad introduction to academic life while catering for their individual interests. In 2016 this was classified by Ofsted as an outstanding school, In 2017–18 the

Key Stage 4 Key Stage 4 (KS4) is the legal term for the two years of school education which incorporate GCSEs, and other examinations, in maintained schools in England normally known as Year 10 and Year 11, when pupils are aged between 14 and 16 by August 31 ...

results dipped, but the sixth form results held steady. Ofsted was complimentary of the general standard of teaching but found a couple of subjects that were not using the available internal results to correctly target the work set to the more able students. Ofsted was convinced that the trust and local management were addressing the problem.

Notable former members

Former teachers

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 ...

(History), Became a Labour MP and Minister of State for Health & Social Security, introduced SERPS:

State Earnings-Related Pension Scheme The State Earnings Related Pension Scheme (SERPS), originally known as the State Earnings Related Pension Supplement, was a UK Government pension arrangement, to which employees and employers contributed between 6 April 1978 and 5 April 2002, when ...

Former pupils

(1939 entrant), businessman. *

Raymond Hide Raymond Hide (17 May 1929 – 6 September 2016) was a British physicist, who was a professor of physics at the University of Oxford and, since 2000, senior research investigator at Imperial College, London. Education Hide was educated at Perc ...

CBE FRS (1940 entrant), Professor of Physics. * Richard Lumb (1961 entrant), Cricketer (batsman) for

Yorkshire Yorkshire ( ) is an area of Northern England which was History of Yorkshire, historically a county. Despite no longer being used for administration, Yorkshire retains a strong regional identity. The county was named after its county town, the ...

* Roy Cromack (1950 entrant), Road Cyclist * Derrick Downing (1957 entrant), Professional Footballer. *

Ros Jones Roselyn Christine Jones (born 20 December 1949) is a Labour Party politician who was first elected in 2013 as the Mayor of Doncaster, England. Early life Her father worked at Askern Main Colliery, seven miles north of Doncaster. She was born ...

(Ros Cavnor, 1961 entrant), Mayor of Doncaster. * Stan Brookes (1964 entrant), Professional Footballer. * Ricky Ravenhill (1993 entrant), Professional Footballer.

References

External links

*
Percy Jackson Alumni
{{authority control Secondary schools in Doncaster Academies in Doncaster Adwick Adwick le Street