The Elizabethan Academy is a secondary school with academy status located in the Nottinghamshire market town of Retford, England. It is situated to the north of Retford town centre, to the east of the A638, on the side of the River Idle once known as West Retford. The academy has specialist status in Science and Mathematics.
Historically, the school played an important role in the secondary and tertiary education of girls in Nottinghamshire, enabling girls to attend university and achieve advanced degrees.
Current school
The school became an academy in April 2012, and was renamed The Elizabethan Academy. The school is no longer directly funded or operated by Nottinghamshire County Council, but still coordinates with the council with regards to admissions.
As part of the Bassetlaw PFI project, the school buildings in Retford were replaced. In 2007 the school was relocated from its previous two sites to a purpose-built building in Hallcroft built on the playing fields of the former Lower Site. At this time the Sixth form was moved to a purpose-built Post 16 centre jointly run with other schools. In 2018 this was reversed and a new Sixth form was opened at the school on the Hallcroft site.
In the 2018-19 academic year the school had 875 pupils on the register aged 11–18, of which 49% were boys and 51% were girls. The school employed 55 teachers (50 FTE) with a pupil-teacher ratio of 17.5. In addition it had 13 teaching assistants and 25 support staff. The school has four houses - Burghley, Galileo, Hardwick and Shakespeare - each with its own head of house. The current headteacher is Mrs Christine Horrocks (2015–present).
Facilities
Modern facilities were provided for the school as part of the PFI scheme which saw the rebuilding of secondary schools across Bassetlaw. PE facilities are largely provided as part of the new site, in contrast to former provisions at the previous sites. Modern ICT facilities include building-wide wireless coverage, mobile laptop trolleys, six permanent ICT teaching rooms and interactive white boards.
Ofsted
The school has received a rating of "good" from Ofsted in its latest inspection on 2 May 2018. This is consistent with its previous rating of "good" in 2014.
Academic performance
GCSE Results
In 2018/19 the Elizabethan performed above the local authority average in EBACC, but slightly below the national average. The attainment 8 score was significantly below both the local and national averages, as were the percentage of pupils gaining a score of 5+ in both English and Maths. 94% of its pupils stay in education or enter employment after their GCSEs.
Attainment 8 - 40.8
Progress 8 - -0.39
Percentage Grade 5+ in English and Maths - 34%
EBACC - 39%
A Level Results
Following the opening of a Sixth Form at the school (after the closure of the previous Post-16 Centre in 2018), 35 students chose to study A levels at the Elizabethan Academy. 6 pupils also studied technical qualifications.
The average score attained was 24.20 points, which is below both the Nottinghamshire average 32.19 and the national average 34.33.
The progress score was -0.53.
Attendance
Absences were 5.3% compared to a national average of 5.5%. The percentage of pupils missing 10% or more of the mornings or afternoons they could attend (classified as 'persistently absent') is lower than the national average at 12.1% compared to 13.7%.
Newsletter
The school produces a termly newsletter, The Elizabethan Highlights, which is distributed to current students and other interested parties.
History
The Elizabethan Academy has its origins in the Retford County High School for Girls, which was a girls' grammar school, also known as the Retford High School.
In 1893, a meeting was convened at the White Hart Hotel, Retford 'to consider the advisability of taking steps to establish a public High School for Girls in the district'. The prime instigator in this project was the manager of the Westminster Bank, Mr William Oakden, who in 1891 had moved from Nottingham to Retford. He and other like-minded people wanted to provide their daughters with some form of higher education.
The school rented Ordsall House on London Road and the first headmistress was Miss Arblaster, who joined from the High School for Girls, Hitchin, Hertfordshire. By January 1910 eighty girls attended the school, rising to 89 by December 1910.