Ridgewood School 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 ...

with

academy An academy (Attic Greek: Ἀκαδήμεια; Koine Greek Ἀκαδημία) is an institution of tertiary education. The name traces back to Plato's school of philosophy, founded approximately 386 BC at Akademia, a sanctuary of Athena, the go ...

status in

Scawsby Scawsby is a suburb of Doncaster, South Yorkshire, England. It is situated approximately 2 miles north-west of the city centre on the A635 road to Barnsley close to its terminus with the A638. Geography Sunnyfields, Scawthorpe, Bentley, C ...

Doncaster Doncaster ( ) is a city status in the United Kingdom, city in South Yorkshire, England. Named after the River Don, Yorkshire, River Don, it is the administrative centre of the City of Doncaster metropolitan borough, and is the second largest se ...

, England. The school gained academy status in October 2011, and was a specialist

Engineering College Engineering education is the activity of teaching knowledge and principles to the professional practice of engineering. It includes an initial education ( Dip.Eng.)and (B.Eng.) or ( M.Eng.), and any advanced education and specializations tha ...

prior to September 2015.

Catchment area

The School accepts pupils from the surrounding areas of

Sprotbrough Sprotbrough is a village in the City of Doncaster in South Yorkshire, England, with a population of 7,548 at the 2021 United Kingdom census, 2021 census. The village is transected by the A1(M) motorway and is situated at the top of the Don Gorg ...

, Sprotbrough village (or Upper Sprotbrough) with Copley Junior School and Richmond Hill Primary School, Cusworth with Saltersgate Infants and Junior School, Barnburgh and Marr with Barnburgh Primary, and Scawsby with Rosedale Primary all leading on to Ridgewood. Pupils from Upper Sprotbrough who previously attended Outwood (formerly Adwick Secondary School), are now in the catchment area of Ridgewood.

Curriculum

Lessons: Ridgewood School teaches lessons in

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 ...

Music Music is the arrangement of sound to create some combination of Musical form, form, harmony, melody, rhythm, or otherwise Musical expression, expressive content. Music is generally agreed to be a cultural universal that is present in all hum ...

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 ...

, French,

Spanish Spanish might refer to: * Items from or related to Spain: **Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain **Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many countries in the Americas **Spanish cuisine **Spanish history **Spanish culture ...

Art Art is a diverse range of cultural activity centered around ''works'' utilizing creative or imaginative talents, which are expected to evoke a worthwhile experience, generally through an expression of emotional power, conceptual ideas, tec ...

, ICT,

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 ...

Maths Mathematics is a field of study that discovers and organizes methods, theories and theorems that are developed and proved for the needs of empirical sciences and mathematics itself. There are many areas of mathematics, which include num ...

, RE, PE,

Technology Technology is the application of Conceptual model, conceptual knowledge to achieve practical goals, especially in a reproducible way. The word ''technology'' can also mean the products resulting from such efforts, including both tangible too ...

Food Tech ''Food Tech'' is a television series on the History Channel History (formerly and commonly known as the History Channel) is an American pay television television broadcaster, network and the flagship channel of A&E Networks, a joint venture b ...

, English, and

Drama Drama is the specific Mode (literature), mode of fiction Mimesis, represented in performance: a Play (theatre), play, opera, mime, ballet, etc., performed in a theatre, or on Radio drama, radio or television.Elam (1980, 98). Considered as a g ...

. The school also caters for 6th formers with courses including

engineering Engineering is the practice of using natural science, mathematics, and the engineering design process to Problem solving#Engineering, solve problems within technology, increase efficiency and productivity, and improve Systems engineering, s ...

computing Computing is any goal-oriented activity requiring, benefiting from, or creating computer, computing machinery. It includes the study and experimentation of algorithmic processes, and the development of both computer hardware, hardware and softw ...

and

construction Construction are processes involved in delivering buildings, infrastructure, industrial facilities, and associated activities through to the end of their life. It typically starts with planning, financing, and design that continues until the a ...

. It competes in sporting and non-sporting events including track and field running, cross country,

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

and

netball Netball is a ball sport played on a rectangular court by two teams of seven players. The primary objective is to shoot a ball through the defender's goal ring while preventing the opposing team from shooting through their own. It is one of a ...

Location

Ridgewood School neighbours the New Stone Hill School, a specialist school which was formerly the Anchorage School, and before that, a teacher training college. It has an open playing field towards the back of the site alongside Ridgewood's open P.E. fields, which are both surrounded by open fields used for

agriculture Agriculture encompasses crop and livestock production, aquaculture, and forestry for food and non-food products. Agriculture was a key factor in the rise of sedentary human civilization, whereby farming of domesticated species created ...

. To one side of the playing field is an abandoned railway line which runs through

and

. Travel to the school is provided via the school buses, the 540, which collects students from Sprotbrough village, the 541, which collects students from Lower Sprotbrough, and the 542, which collects students from Barnburgh. A late bus is also provided in the afternoons, which leaves at 16:00. The school lies on

Barnsley Barnsley () is a market town in South Yorkshire, England. It is the main settlement of the Metropolitan Borough of Barnsley and the fourth largest settlement in South Yorkshire. The town's population was 71,422 in 2021, while the wider boroug ...

Road (A635) which is the main Barnsley - Doncaster link road which passes though villages like Hickleton, Goldthorpe, Darfield etc.

School performance

Ridgewood Academy performs above the local authority average in Doncaster's league tables for GCSE results, achieving an attainment 8 score of 48.4 in 2022, compared to the local average of 44.7. Progress 8 is around both the local, and national average. In the school's March 2019 Ofsted report, both the lower school and sixth form were judged 'Requires Improvement'. In the most recent inspection in December 2022, the school was ranked 'Good' in all categories.

Notable alumni

Mark Fletcher Mark Fletcher may refer to: * Mark Fletcher (businessman), American internet entrepreneur * Mark Fletcher (footballer) (born 1965), English former footballer * Mark Fletcher (politician) (born 1985), British former Member of Parliament for Bolsover ...

, Member of Parliament for

Bolsover Bolsover is a market town and the administrative centre of the Bolsover District, Derbyshire, England. It is from Sheffield, from Nottingham and from Derby. It is the main town in the Bolsover district. The civil parish for the town is c ...

(2019-2024)

References

External links

Ridgewood School
{{authority control Academies in Doncaster Secondary schools in Doncaster Educational institutions established in 1968 1968 establishments in England