Swanwick Hall 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 ...

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 ...

located in Swanwick,

Alfreton Alfreton ( or locally ) is a town and civil parishes in England, civil parish in the Amber Valley district of Derbyshire, England. The town was formerly a Norman Manor and later an Urban District. The population of the Alfreton parish was 8,79 ...

Derbyshire Derbyshire ( ) is a ceremonial county in the East Midlands of England. It borders Greater Manchester, West Yorkshire, and South Yorkshire to the north, Nottinghamshire to the east, Leicestershire to the south-east, Staffordshire to the south a ...

, England. In 2004

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 ...

noted that the school had strong

university A university () is an educational institution, institution of tertiary education and research which awards academic degrees in several Discipline (academia), academic disciplines. ''University'' is derived from the Latin phrase , which roughly ...

links and had Training School status. It was formerly a

country house image:Blenheim - Blenheim Palace - 20210417125239.jpg, 300px, Blenheim Palace - Oxfordshire An English country house is a large house or mansion in the English countryside. Such houses were often owned by individuals who also owned a Townhou ...

belonging to the local Wood family.

History

The Hall (1771-1922)

The main building was constructed in 1771-72 by

Joseph Pickford Joseph Pickford (bap. 6 October 1734 – 13 July 1782) was an English architect that mostly worked within the English county of Derbyshire, and was one of the leading provincial architects in the reign of George III. The house he designed for h ...

for

Hugh Wood Hugh Wood (27 June 1932 – 14 August 2021) was a British composer. Biography Wood was born in Parbold, Lancashire and grew up in a musical family; while still a teenager, he was encouraged by the composer Alan Bush. He was educated at Oundle ...

, a gentleman in Swanwick. It was expanded in 1812 to the west wing, with a new drawing room and tea room. This was around the same time the estate was expanded to thirty acres on the south east end of the newly opened Swanwick crossroads, due to the Alfreton Enclosure Act 1812 ( 52 Geo. 3 c. ciii). It was expanded again and heavily modified in 1889, when it was expanded by an east wing, conservatory, flag room and a refronted south

façade A façade or facade (; ) is generally the front part or exterior of a building. It is a loanword from the French language, French (), which means "frontage" or "face". In architecture, the façade of a building is often the most important asp ...

on the west wing. The Wood family started letting out the house in the late 1890’s, and started selling off parts of the Wood family estate in

, and mainly left Swanwick by 1912. When J. W. H. Wood died in late 1919, his wife, Christina Mary Wood, sold off Swanwick Hall in 1920, over to

Derbyshire County Council Derbyshire County Council is the upper-tier local authority for the non-metropolitan county of Derbyshire in England. The non-metropolitan county is smaller than the ceremonial county, which additionally includes Derby. The county council is ba ...

for £10,376. Swanwickhall

It was known as the coeducational Swanwick Hall Grammar School from 1922, It had extensions designed by county council architect, G. Widdows, and was opened by the Duke Of Devonshire. Swanwickhallgrammar

Comprehensive

The school became comprehensive in 1973. Previously a community school administered by

, Swanwick Hall School was converted to academy status in April 2016. The school is now part of the Two Counties Trust which includes Ashfield School and

Selston High School Selston High School is a mixed secondary school that educates students aged 11–16. It is located in Selston, Nottinghamshire, England. The headteacher is Mr David Broomhead. History The school was previously called ''Matthew Holland Schoo ...

. However, Swanwick Hall School continues to coordinate with Derbyshire County Council for admissions. Swanwickhall2023

Notable pupils

Swanwick Hall Grammar School

* Robert J. Elliott, mathematician * Roger Elliott FRS,

Wykeham Professor The University of Oxford has three statutory professorships named after William of Wykeham, who founded New College. Logic The Wykeham Professorship in Logic was established in 1859, although it was not known as the Wykeham chair until later. ...

of Physics from 1974 to 1988 at the University of Oxford, and Chief Executive from 1988 to 1993 of

Oxford University Press Oxford University Press (OUP) is the publishing house of the University of Oxford. It is the largest university press in the world. Its first book was printed in Oxford in 1478, with the Press officially granted the legal right to print books ...

(OUP), cousin of Robert, and known for his

Elliott formula The Elliott formula describes analytically, or with few adjustable parameters such as the dephasing constant, the light absorption (electromagnetic radiation), absorption or emission (electromagnetic radiation), emission spectra of solids. It was ...

* Edwin Jowitt, former High Court judge * Ben Connor, British Athlete & Tokyo 2021 Olympian - Marathon

References

External links

Swanwick Hall School official website
Academies in Derbyshire Amber Valley Secondary schools in Derbyshire {{Derbyshire-school-stub