Leading Edge - Home

Introduction The Ecclesbourne School is an 11 – 18 mixed comprehensive with some 1450 students, over 330 of which are in the Sixth Form. The school serves a largely suburban and rural catchment area just north of the City of Derby, in the county of Derbyshire. The school has enjoyed extremely successful Ofsted inspections in 1995, 2000, 2005 and most recently in 2008, each time being awarded the highest status. The school is recognised as one of the “Outstandingly Successful” secondary schools by the Ofsted Chief Inspectorate. In September 1999, the school was awarded the status of a Beacon School as part of a national programme aimed at sharing good practice more widely. This status was renewed in 2002. The school became part of the national Specialist School programme in 2001 when Technology College status was awarded and then successfully gained Arts College Status in 2006 as a second specialism as part of the High Performing Specialist Schools Strategy. Leading Edge status Ecclesbourne became a ‘Leading Edge School’ in 2003 because of its continued excellent attainment and for its innovative and collaborative practices. There are 3 Leading Edge schools in Derbyshire – The Ecclesbourne School, Kirk Hallam Community Technology College and The Frederick Gent School. Our Leading Edge Partnership originally included the 19 secondary schools in the geographical region of South East Derbyshire known collectively as SEDSSIP [South East Derbyshire Secondary Schools Improvement Partnership]. Since September 2007 Ecclesbourne has been working more closely on a range of projects and initiatives with John Flamsteed School, Denby and the RHLC (Ripley and Heanor Learning Community). Leading Edge Projects 2010-11 In September 2010 whilst there were a small number of new projects, previously established projects have continued to flourish. Since the School has converted to Academy status, it has taken the opportunity to re-evaluate its Leading Edge work in the light of the national changes and has identified its main priorities for its Leading Edge programme in the future. In November 2010 the school was successful in its application to gain Advanced Level Consultant School Accreditation. The Report commented that the school ‘demonstrates a wide and varied provision in its outreach work and this is embedded at all staff levels, both teaching and support.’ In recommending the School for the award, the assessor concluded that the School is ‘truly committed to being outward facing’ in order to ‘enhance the life chances of school students and the wider community in the area’. Being an Academy will provide the School with the chance to evaluate the future of its Leading Edge work, whilst affording exciting new opportunities to develop closer links with a local primary school, as well as continuing to support other schools within and beyond the RHLC.