Orton Longueville School
Encyclopedia
Nene Park Academy, formally Orton Longueville School is a secondary comprehensive in Peterborough
Peterborough
Peterborough is a cathedral city and unitary authority area in the East of England, with an estimated population of in June 2007. For ceremonial purposes it is in the county of Cambridgeshire. Situated north of London, the city stands on the River Nene which flows into the North Sea...

.

Admissions

The school population in 2010 is nearly 1200. About a quarter of students come from several minority ethnic groups and a small number of students are at an early stage of English language acquisition. An average proportion of students have learning difficulties and/or disabilities and students’ attainment on entry is broadly average. Far fewer students than average come from homes with experience of
higher education. As of the start of the term of 2010/2011 year, the headteacher Mark Woods confirmed the school has been given a sum of over £15,000,000 for improvements of the school, after joining with Swavesey Village College as an academy.

Grammar school

It began as Orton Longueville Grammar School in 1959. This was originally Fletton Grammar School in Old Fletton
Old Fletton
Old Fletton was an urban district in the county of Huntingdonshire and then Huntingdon and Peterborough. The urban district was abolished under the Local Government Act 1972 and now forms part of the city of Peterborough in Cambridgeshire....

 (also in Huntingdonshire), which opened in 1910, and moved to the new site. It kept Fletton's motto of Onward and Upward. The former Fletton school became a primary school on London Road. The 1959 Orton school was built by Huntingdonshire County Council (not the Soke of Peterborough
Soke of Peterborough
The Soke of Peterborough is an historic area of England that is traditionally associated with the City and Diocese of Peterborough, but considered part of Northamptonshire...

 which then contained most of Peterborough) on the grounds of Orton Hall, owned by the Marquess of Huntly
Marquess of Huntly
Marquess of Huntly is a title in the Peerage of Scotland created on 17 April 1599 for George Gordon, 6th Earl of Huntly. It is the oldest existing marquessate in Scotland, and the second-oldest in the British Isles, only the English marquessate of Winchester being older...

. The hall is now a Best Western
Best Western
Best Western International, Inc. is the third largest hotel chain, with over 4,195 hotels in nearly 80 countries. The chain, with its corporate headquarters in Phoenix, Arizona, operates more than 2,000 hotels in North America alone. Best Western has a marketing program involving placement of free...

 hotel. The grammar school had a catchment area as far south as the Alconbury
Alconbury
Alconbury is a village in the English county of Cambridgeshire.-Geography:It is in the district of Huntingdonshire and gives its name to RAF Alconbury. It is near to the point where a major north/south road, the A1, crosses the only major east/west road: the A14...

s and Sawtry. It was one of three grammar school
Grammar school
A grammar school is one of several different types of school in the history of education in the United Kingdom and some other English-speaking countries, originally a school teaching classical languages but more recently an academically-oriented secondary school.The original purpose of mediaeval...

s in the former Huntingdonshire (very similar area to the current district).

Comprehensive

Next door to the grammar school, the Orton Longueville Secondary Modern School opened in 1961, which merged with the grammar school in September 1970. This school was originally situated in Woodston
Woodston, Cambridgeshire
Woodston is a largely residential area of the city of Peterborough, Cambridgeshire in the United Kingdom. For electoral purposes it forms part of Fletton ward in North West Cambridgeshire constituency.-Overview:...

. It was administered by Huntingdon and Peterborough
Huntingdon and Peterborough
Huntingdon and Peterborough was a short-lived administrative county in East Anglia in the United Kingdom. It existed from 1965 to 1974, when it became part of Cambridgeshire.-Formation:...

 from 1965, Cambridgeshire County Council from April 1974, and the City of Peterborough from 1998.

In October 1989, a fire destroyed the Technology and Art & Design block, and a temporary classroom was burnt down in the 1990s
1990s
File:1990s decade montage.png|From left, clockwise: The Hubble Space Telescope floats in space after it was taken up in 1990; American F-16s and F-15s fly over burning oil fields and the USA Lexie in Operation Desert Storm, also known as the 1991 Gulf War; The signing of the Oslo Accords on...

.

In 2003 the school was selected by the DfES as a designated Specialist Business and Enterprise College
Business and Enterprise College
Business and Enterprise Colleges were introduced in 2002 as part of the Specialist Schools Programme in the United Kingdom. The system enables secondary schools to specialise in certain fields...

. Two new computer suites were constructed to coincide with designation of specialist school, however these have now been converted into a large "Electronic Learning Center". The school has recently received a large amount of funds to rebuild sections of the school and refurbish others. The rebuild is currently scheduled to take place in 2013.

Academy

On the 31 of August 2011 Orton Longueville School will close and reopen on the 1st of September 2011 as Nene Park Academy. Different uniform will be worn by students and building work will be underway on the school site.

Academic performance

In 2006 the school was given a ‘Notice to Improve’ by Ofsted following a poor ofsted report which rated the schools effectiveness as 'unsatisfactory'. Results during this year were also poor with only 37% of students achieving 5 good GCSE's (Grade A-C's including Maths and English), compared with city's highest state school performer, The Kings School, which achieved 91%. During this year the school also performed poorly at A-Level coming eighth out of ten local sixth forms with a ranking of 572.3 compared with the highest performer - again the Kings School - which scored 956.2. The national average is 721.5. Unauthorized absence stood at 1.5%, compared to the local average of 1.2% and the national average of 1.3%

The following Ofsted report in 2008 displayed some improvements which lead to the school being rated as 'satisfactory'.

In 2009 the school performed well below average at GCSE level with only 33% of students achieving 5 GCSE's at grade A-C including Maths and English. They also performed very poorly at A-level, achieving the second lowest pass rate in Peterborough LEA after The Voyager School
The Voyager School
The Voyager Academy is a comprehensive secondary school in Peterborough in the United Kingdom. The school was formed in 2007 by the amalgamation of Walton Community School and Bretton Woods Community School.- Development :...

.

Publicity - Scott Homer

In June 2006 the school appeared on the front page of local newspaper The Peterborough Evening Telegraph regarding the alleged unfair expulsion of sixth form student Scott Homer by headteacher David Owen. Scott was considered the student political figurehead within his school year due to his huge involvement in the school's extra-curricular agenda. Scott played a role on the student council, a forum for students to voice their concerns and suggestions regarding the day-to-day running of the school to the school's senior management team. In 2003 Scott also helped to appoint the school's new headteacher David Owen who would later be the one personally excluding Scott.

Despite Scott's best efforts to continue his extra-curricular work and communicate the opinions of the student body to the senior management team, the arrival of the new head saw a drastic decision to disregard many of the activities Scott was involved in, including the democratically elected student council. As hostility between the student body and the senior management team escalated, a whole school Question Time was organised so students could finally vent their frustrations at the headteacher. Despite Scott being the only student banned from attending the event, he gained access by convincing the senior management team he would not participate in the questioning. During the opening speech by the head he announced that only questions that had been pre-submitted to him for consideration would be allowed to be asked. Scott and a few others erupted with outrage at this point as they felt the Question Time was nothing more than a desperate attempt to pacify an angry student body with a farcical show of democracy. However other students merely saw this as Scott attempting to appear 'important' amongst his friends. Scott challenged the head and asked unscripted questions that resulted in a rather public humiliation of himself.

Shortly after this the Sixth Form Tuck Shop, which had been running for generations by groups of sixth-form volunteers, was forced to close due to alleged health and safety reasons. When Scott attempted to retain the highly successful Tuck Shop for the Sixth Form he was visited during lessons by the head who informed him he would be immediately excluded for an act of criminal damage he didn't commit. Scott spent the first day of his exclusion sat in silent protest at the school gate, but by the second day other students joined him to show their support for student rights. Scott lost the end of his academic year for staging the protest and contacting the press, but was granted re-admission to the school for his final year of A-Level study due to the fact the head had no evidence to support his accusations of criminal damage. After a damning Ofsted report resulting in the school facing a 'Notice To Improve' ultimatum headteacher David Owen resigned for personal reasons just before Scott finished his studies at the school.

http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1G1-182382268.html - Pupils in Tuck Shop protest.

http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1G1-182396753.html - Orton Longueville head David Owen to leave.

Orton Longueville Grammar School

  • Dr Judy MacArthur Clark CBE, vet and Chief Inspector since 2007 of the Animals (Scientific Procedures) Inspectorate, President from 1992-3 of the Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons
    Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons
    The Royal College of Veterinary Surgeons is the regulatory body for veterinary surgeons in the United Kingdom. Established in 1844 by Royal Charter, its statutory duties are laid out in the 1966 Veterinary Surgeons Act.-Role:...

     (RCVS), and Chair from 1999-2004 of the Farm Animal Welfare Council
    Farm Animal Welfare Council
    The Farm Animal Welfare Council was an independent advisory body established by the Government of Great Britain in 1979. FAWC has published its Final Report before its closure on 31 March 2011...


Fletton Grammar School

  • George Alcock
    George Alcock
    George Eric Deacon Alcock was an English astronomer. He was one of the most successful visual discoverers of novae and comets....

     MBE, astronomer
  • Geoffrey Dear, Baron Dear
    Geoffrey Dear, Baron Dear
    Geoffrey James Dear, Baron Dear, QPM, DL is a retired British police officer. He was described by the broadcaster Sir Robin Day as "the best known and most respected police officer of his generation"....

    , Chief Constable from 1985-90 of West Midlands Police
    West Midlands Police
    West Midlands Police is the territorial police force responsible for policing the metropolitan county of West Midlands in England.Covering an area with nearly 2.6 million inhabitants, which includes the cities of Birmingham, Coventry, Wolverhampton and also the Black Country; the force is made up...


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