The Giles Academy (formerly the Giles School) is a mixed secondary school located in Old Leake in the English county of Lincolnshire.[1]
| Giles Academy | |
|---|---|
| Address | |
 | |
Church Lane , , PE22 9LD England | |
| Coordinates | 53°01′46″N 0°05′54″E / 53.02954°N 0.09832°E |
| Information | |
| Type | Academy |
| Department for Education URN | 148185 Tables |
| Ofsted | Reports |
| Headteacher | Lucy Conley |
| Gender | Mixed |
| Age | 11 to 18 |
| Enrolment | 987 as of January 2015[update] |
| Website | www |
History
editGiles Secondary Modern School opened its doors to students on Wednesday 10 January 1962. It was built by J.T. Barber of Boston.[2] The school was named after Lt-Col Sir Oswald Giles, who was the chairman of Holland County Council for 18 years; he was knighted in the 1955 Birthday Honours; he died on Tuesday 4 August 1970, aged 82.[3][4]
It was previously a foundation school administered by Lincolnshire County Council. The new school boasts modern facilities and equipment after a £125,000 investment.[5]
On 1 September 2010, the Giles School converted to academy status and was renamed the Giles Academy. However the school continues to coordinate with Lincolnshire County Council for admissions.
The Giles Academy offers GCSEs and BTECs as programmes of study for pupils. The school previously offered sixth form education for students to study from a range of A Levels and further BTECs. In 2005, the school was awarded a specialism in visual arts. As a result, all key stage 4 students are required to undertake at least one art and design related subject for their GCSE studies.[6]
In November 2015, the school finished constructing a new swimming pool and held an opening ceremony with former student and former Olympic swimmer Melanie Marshall.
In 2016, after 24 years of leadership, Executive Headmaster Chris Walls (the 3rd headteacher in over 50 years of the school's history) retired. Previous Deputy Headmaster Ian Widdows was named as his replacement.[7] Since the departure of Widdows several years later, Lucy Conley has served as the school's headteacher, with Katie Belcher taking on the role of Head of School.[8]
Controversies
editIn October 2009, the Giles Academy was fined after an unsupervised art student suffered severe burns to her hands after plunging them into a bucket of plaster of paris. After 12 operations, the student lost all her fingers on one hand, but managed to keep two on the other.[9]
In July 2012, a transgender student was briefly banned from sitting GCSE exams after arriving in a girl's uniform. In response, the student presented the headmaster, Chris Walls, with a copy of the UK's Equality Act. Despite this, the student, Ashlyn Parram, was segregated from everyone else taking the exam.[10]
On February 14, 2020, following numerous poor reports from Ofsted, a termination warning notice was served to the Giles Academy. The report highlighted a number of concerns raised by Ofsted, accusing school leaders of "lack[ing] capacity to improve the school" and describing a culture of "low expectation and low aspiration".[11]
In response to the Ofsted reports and termination warning notice, local news websites began to claim the school was "failing" amidst rumours that the sixth form would be shutting down. The school had only received 30 applications for students wanting to attend sixth form the following academic year.[12]
Notable alumni
edit- Melanie Marshall (born 1982) Former Olympic athlete, European Gold medal winning swimmer, now coach to Olympic Gold medal winner Adam Peaty [13]
- Brian Bolland (born 1951), cartoonist
- Lewis Brooks (born 1987), former professional football player for Boston United,[14] Boston Town[15] and England U-18[16]
- Confidential (born 2006) Music artist/singer-songwriter[17]
References
edit- ^ "Homepage". Giles Academy. Retrieved 17 February 2014.
- ^ Louth Standard Friday 5 January 1962, page 20
- ^ Oswald Giles
- ^ Lincolnshire Echo Wednesday 5 August 1970, page 1
- ^ "Golden 50 for Giles Academy". Lincolnshire Life. Retrieved 23 September 2022.
- ^ "Curriculum – Giles Academy". Retrieved 23 September 2022.
- ^ "New headteacher at academy". www.lincolnshireworld.com. 24 April 2016. Retrieved 23 September 2022.
- ^ "Who's Who – Giles Academy". Retrieved 23 September 2022.
- ^ "Girl loses fingers in school art lesson". The Guardian. 12 October 2009. Retrieved 1 December 2021.
- ^ "Transgender Schoolboy 'Almost Banned From Taking Exam In Girls' Uniform'". HuffPost UK. 23 July 2012. Retrieved 1 December 2021.
- ^ "Termination warning notice to The Giles Academy". GOV.UK. Retrieved 23 September 2022.
- ^ Hewitt, Matty (8 June 2020). "Failing school moves 30 students to another college". LincolnshireLive. Retrieved 23 September 2022.
- ^ "Mel Marshall 'privileged' to win High Performance Coach of the Year prize". Swim England Competitive Swimming Hub. 6 December 2019. Retrieved 1 December 2021.
- ^ "FootballSquads - Boston United - 2004/05". www.footballsquads.co.uk. Retrieved 3 December 2021.
- ^ "Chand Disappointed to Lose Brooks". Pitchero Non-League. 17 February 2012. Retrieved 13 December 2021.
- ^ "English Schools' Football Association (ESFA) - News 2005-2006". www.esfa.co.uk. Retrieved 3 December 2021.
- ^ Podcast, As It Comes. "Episode 53: George Wakerley aka Confidential". As It Comes Podcast. Retrieved 20 October 2022.