Egglescliffe School

Egglescliffe School & Sixth Form College is a large Coeducational secondary school and sixth form located in Eaglescliffe (near Stockton-on-Tees) in County Durham, England.[1]

Egglescliffe School & Sixth Form College
Address
Urlay Nook Road

Eaglescliffe

Stockton-on-Tees
,
County Durham
,
TS16 0LA

England
Coordinates54.516450°N 1.360525°W / 54.516450; -1.360525
Information
TypeAcademy
Established1962
Local authorityStockton-on-Tees
TrustVision Academy Learning Trust
Department for Education URN143063 Tables
OfstedReports
HeadteacherSimon White
GenderCoeducational
Age11 to 18
Enrolment1,497
HousesAldrin / Armstrong / Gagarin (Lower houses) Tereshkova / Lovell (Upper houses )
Colour(s)Navy, black, and white
     
Websiteegglescliffe.org.uk

History

Beginning as a small rural secondary school of 200 pupils in 1962, Egglescliffe became a comprehensive in the 1970s, gradually growing to its current size of over 1400 pupils, including sixth formers. There have been five headteachers since it opened: Mr. Frank Davison, Mr. Alan Basset, Mr. David Oliver, Mrs. Angela Darnell and Mr. Simon White. In 2010, Mrs Darnell was awarded an OBE for "services to education".[2] In 2012 the school celebrated its 50th anniversary.

Academic achievements

In 1999, Egglescliffe was awarded Specialist Status and designated an Arts College specialising in music and drama, since then refurbishment of the music block has transformed the interior structure of the department. Its Music Department has a longstanding reputation for performance work. The school has also been designated a National Teaching school. These are outstanding schools which have been nationally recognised for their capacity to support and help other schools to improve outcomes.[3]

Anthony Gears and the drama department

From 1999 until his death on 25 June 2010, it was under the direction of Anthony Gears, joined by a team of six, teaching drama and theatre. He was succeeded as Director of Performing Arts by Harmony Gibson, his daughter.[4]

A specialist theatre was built to host the many Drama and Theatre productions throughout the school year. It is also home to Egglescliffe Youth Theatre, launched in its present form in September 1986, now one of the longest-running Theatre groups in the country. It holds weekly sessions and yearly summer productions.

Music department

Head of the music department for 32 years was Keith Hewson, who retired in 2008. Over those years his orchestras, brass bands, choirs, jazz ensembles and chamber groups appeared at the Music for Youth National Festival over 80 times winning many outstanding performance awards and appearing at the Royal Albert Hall School proms on 19 occasions. For over ten years Hewson was a member of the government's Music and Dance Scheme Panel and the Specialist Schools Music Expert Panel. In 2002 he was voted Classic FM Music Teacher of the Year.[5] In April 2008, following the award of High Performing Specialist Status, the school was designated a second specialism as a science college. In 2012, the current Head of Music, Matthew Haworth, was awarded the Secondary Music Teacher of the Year by Classic FM.[6][7] In recent years the various ensembles of the school have played in a number of significant venues such as Symphony Hall Birmingham, Ely Cathedral, Durham Cathedral, Town Hall Birmingham, The Sage Gateshead, St Marks Venice, The Royal Albert Hall and Blackpool Winter Gardens.

In March 2018 former "respected" Egglescliffe school music teacher Gareth Parry was found guilty of child sex charges.[8] His "despicable" behavior that took place during his time at Egglescliffe school was condemned by a child protection charity, who branded the relationship a "traumatic experience for the victim".[9] Parry had messaged the girl on WhatsApp [10] and during in the trial evidence presented to the court detailed the "sickening" messages exchanged between the music teacher and pupil. In mitigation barrister Stephen Constantine said parry had been held in "high regard" by colleagues. He was handed a 6 year sentence for what a judge said were "appalling" crimes.[11]

Notable Visitors to Egglescliffe School

The South Bank Show

The school featured in an episode of The South Bank Show titled "Howard Goodall — A Musical Nation" that aired on Sunday 19 December 2004 on ITV, in which he explored Britain's musical provision for young people.[12][13]

50th anniversary concert

The concert, performed at the Sage, Gateshead on 15 July 2012, was a huge success.[14]

Sports

The school offers a wide range of sporting activities and facilities including an artificial turf pitch. The school offers: netball, field hockey, basketball, rounders, football, table tennis, cricket, trampolining, volleyball, tennis, fitness, dodgeball, rugby union, softball, boxercise, athletics, and badminton.

Notable former pupils

Andrew Levan — Professor of Physics at Warwick University, won The Philip Leverhulme Prize in 2011 for Astronomy and Astrophysics, for his research into Gamma-ray bursts, supernovae and high redshift galaxies.[15] The prizes, each worth £70,000, are awarded to outstanding scholars who have made a substantial contribution to their particular field of study, recognised at an international level and where the expectation is that their greatest achievement is yet to come. In October 2017 Professor Levan announced (at an international press conference in Munich) discovery of a neutron star 'kilonova' having detected synchronous gravitational waves and optical signals. This has been heralded as all but conclusive evidence for gravitational radiation. Andrew was leader of the Hubble Space Telescope team for this project which involved collaboration between observers from 18 countries.

References
  1. https://egglescliffe.org.uk/
  2. Evening, Gazette (12 June 2010). "Egglescliffe teacher Angela Darnell awarded OBE". GazetteLive.
  3. "What is a Teaching School". Teaching Schools Council. Retrieved 9 April 2020.
  4. Passant, Andy (7 October 2010). "Teacher succeeds dad at Egglescliffe School". GazetteLive.
  5. "Steelbands North Newsletter". Pan Podium. March 2013.
  6. "More Music Teacher of the Year winners announced". Classic FM. 14 November 2012.
  7. "Egglescliffe School Brass Band". Classic FM.
  8. https://en.mogaznews.com/World-News/890001/Ex-Egglescliffe-school-teacher-who-abused-girl-in-his-car-is-jailed.html
  9. https://www.gazettelive.co.uk/news/teesside-news/music-teacher-gareth-parry-found-14432793
  10. https://uk-database.net/2018/05/03/gareth-parry-ingleby-barwick/
  11. https://www.gazettelive.co.uk/news/teesside-news/highly-regarded-paedophile-music-teacher-14586976
  12. Evening, Gazette (13 July 2004). "Pupils to star in top TV show". GazetteLive.
  13. "Research for A Musical Nation". Howard Goodall.
  14. "50th Anniversary Concert". Egglescliffe Creative Arts. 15 July 2012. Archived from the original on 23 October 2013. Retrieved 2 October 2013.
  15. "Philip Leverhulme Prize Winners 2011". The Leverhulme Trust.
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