- Source: Woodham Academy
Woodham Academy (simply referred to as Woodham, formerly Woodham Community Technology College and Woodham Comprehensive School) is an 11–16 mixed secondary school with academy status in Newton Aycliffe, County Durham, England. It was formerly a foundation school that was established in 1970 and adopted its present name after becoming an academy in 2012. It is part of the Eden Learning Trust.
History
= Woodham Comprehensive School: 1970 to 1999
=Woodham Comprehensive was a foundation school that opened on 29 June 1970 by Alice Bacon, Baroness Bacon, a former Labour MP. It was built under the Consortium of Local Authorities Special Programme.
As well as Woodham and Greenfield schools there was a third secondary school in Newton Aycliffe called "The Avenue Comprehensive" which was closed in 1992 and amalgamated with Woodham. It was created from two former secondary schools; Marlowe Hall Secondary Modern School and Milton Hall.
On 4 July 1990, the school was set alight by arsonists. Around a third of the school's teaching area was destroyed and an estimated £1 million of damage was caused. The damaged section of the school was rebuilt and reopened on 12 December 1992.
= Woodham Community Technology College: 1999 to 2012
=Woodham gained Technology College status in 1999 and was opened by Kate Adie.
In March 2008, Woodham Community Technology College (often written as Woodham CTC) announced the closure of its sixth form provision due to low applications but remained committed to current sixth form students.
The Woodham Warriors were the school's American flag football team from 2003 to around 2014 and won many tournaments and accolades, including representing the UK in 2005
= School rebuild
=The school was scheduled for a complete rebuild but the government axed the Building Schools for the Future rebuilding programme in July, 2010
= House system
=In September 2011, the Woodham house system was re-introduced for year seven to ten. The houses were named after local castles. The houses were Brancepeth, Lambton, and Raby. Students collect points for their house by working hard and taking part in extracurricular activities. In 2015 there was no house captains or head of house due to the departure of two of the head of houses and all the house captains.
The house system was eventually retired.
= Woodham Academy: September 2012 to present
=In March 2012, the school announced it would be submitting a request to turn the school into an academy. In July 2012, it opened its Sports Academy which aims to offer "high quality coaching opportunities to elite athletes in a range of sports" The school introduced a new uniform in September 2012 for the new Academy, which was updated in 2022 with new ties.
In July 2021 it was announced that Woodham was amongst 50 schools nationally to be considered for a major rebuild, partial rebuild or refurbishment under the School Rebuilding Programme with the Government's decision expected early 2022. The new building was completed in September 2024, containing features such as advanced automatic temperature control. According to Andrew Bell, the building cost a total of £44 million. As of November 2024, the old building has not been yet demolished due to asbestos removal works.
Facilities
The school has a range of facilities including
9 science laboratories
2 music suites
a technology complex with 6 specialist workshops
a textiles studio
a sports hall
a gymnasium
a drama studio
a swimming pool
multiple IT suites
Academic performance
= Curriculum provision
=Woodham offers a broad range of learning experiences that meet the needs of learners, engage them and maximise their opportunities to achieve well. Pupils learn about a variety of employment sectors and routes into further education. The range of external qualifications is suitably varied to support pupils’ aspirations
The school offers a range of GCSE and vocational qualifications.
= Progress 8 comparison with other local schools
=Results from 2020 and 2021 were not published due to exam disruptions caused by the COVID pandemic.
As UTC was a new school the first published results were 2018.
= Ofsted report judgements
=2023 - Good
2018 - Good
2016 - Requires Improvement
2011 - Good
2009 - Satisfactory
2006 - Satisfactory
Head teachers
Head teachers of the school are:b
John Pearson (OBE), 1970–1980
Katherine Carr, 1980–1990
Andrew Bennett, 1990–1994
Steven Harness, 1994–2010
Christine Forsyth, 2010–2019
Andrew Bell, 2019–present
Notable alumni
Kate Avery, long-distance runner
Darren Craddock, footballer
Mark Gatiss, actor, comedian, screenwriter and novelist
Paul Magrs, writer and lecturer
Scott Mann, film director
Chris Mason, footballer
Jason Steele, footballer
Ross Turnbull, footballer
Lewis Wing, footballer
Angela Winstanley-Smith, water polo player
"Machine Gun" Karl Anderson, professional wrestler
Gallery
Notes
^ Position name changed to "Principal" in 2010.
References
External links
Official website
Kata Kunci Pencarian:
- Victoria dari Britania Raya
- Daftar perang dan bencana menurut korban jiwa
- Woodham Academy
- Woodham
- Newton Aycliffe
- Ormiston Rivers Academy
- Woodham High School
- Queen Victoria
- Jason Steele (footballer)
- Great Famine (Ireland)
- Multifidus muscle
- List of schools in County Durham
