Retford Oaks High School
Encyclopedia
Retford Oaks High School is a comprehensive school in the market town of Retford
Retford
Retford is a market town in Nottinghamshire in the East Midlands of England, located 31 miles from the city of Nottingham, and 23 miles west of Lincoln, in the district of Bassetlaw. The town is situated in a valley with the River Idle and the Chesterfield Canal running through the centre of the...

, Nottinghamshire
Nottinghamshire
Nottinghamshire is a county in the East Midlands of England, bordering South Yorkshire to the north-west, Lincolnshire to the east, Leicestershire to the south, and Derbyshire to the west...

, England, situated in the (mainly former) coal-mining
UK Coal
UK Coal plc is the largest coal mining business in the United Kingdom. The Company is based in Harworth, in Nottinghamshire. It is listed on the London Stock Exchange and is a former constituent of the FTSE 250 Index.-History:...

 district of Bassetlaw
Bassetlaw
Bassetlaw is the northernmost district of Nottinghamshire, England, with a population according to the 2001 UK census of 107,713. The borough is predominantly rural, with two towns: Worksop, site of the borough offices, and Retford...

.

Admissions

The school admission policy follows that of the LEA and there are a number of avaliable places in all years at the school. Anyone wishing to join the school should contact the school office for an appointment.

Academic performance

The school has improved from a poor starting point since opening in 2003. The number of students achieving 5 or more A* to C grades at GCSE has risen from 20% in 2006 to 49% in 2011. The opening of the separate sixth form centre with The Elizabethan High School
The Elizabethan High School
The Elizabethan High School, alongside Retford Oaks High School and St Giles Special School, is one of three secondary schools in the Nottinghamshire market town of Retford...

, effectively operating as a sixth form college
Sixth form college
A sixth form college is an educational institution in England, Wales, Northern Ireland, Belize, Hong Kong or Malta where students aged 16 to 18 typically study for advanced school-level qualifications, such as A-levels, or school-level qualifications such as GCSEs. In Singapore and India, this is...

, has produced A level results above the England average.

Neighbouring Lincolnshire
Lincolnshire
Lincolnshire is a county in the east of England. It borders Norfolk to the south east, Cambridgeshire to the south, Rutland to the south west, Leicestershire and Nottinghamshire to the west, South Yorkshire to the north west, and the East Riding of Yorkshire to the north. It also borders...

 (Gainsborough
Gainsborough, Lincolnshire
Gainsborough is a town 15 miles north-west of Lincoln on the River Trent within the West Lindsey district of Lincolnshire, England. At one time it served as an important port with trade downstream to Hull, and was the most inland in England, being more than 55 miles from the North...

 – fourteen minutes on the train) still has the 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...

 system, and attracts a few applicants from east Nottinghamshire, potentially distorting Retford's schools' results.

Ofsted

Retford Oaks has maintained a grading of "satisfactory" in its recent inspections although with several areas classed as good.

History

The school was established in 2003 with the amalgamation of two of the schools in Retford. His HRH Duke of Kent formally opened the school in October 2008. In September 2009 the school was designated as a specialist sports college with its second subject being Mathematics. In September 2011 the school officailly became academy as part of the Diverse Academies Learning Partnership - a collaboration of three academies, Tuxford Academy, National C of E academy and Retford Oaks.

The collaboration with the other schools is enabling Retford Oaks to move rapidly towards its target of "outstanding" by 2014.

Older schools: King Edward VI Grammar School (with list of headmasters) and the Girls' High School

The King Edward VI School was on London Road. It was previously known as the King Edward VI Grammar School and the oldest part of the school buildings (opened in August 1857) was designed by Decimus Burton
Decimus Burton
Decimus Burton was a prolific English architect and garden designer, He is particularly associated with projects in the classical style in London parks, including buildings at the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew and London Zoo, and with the layout and architecture of the seaside towns of Fleetwood and...

. The Grammar School magazine was called The Retfordian. The school motto was Ex Pulvere Palma. In later years the school’s senior houses were Edward, Foljambe, Gough, and Overend. The junior houses were Bescoby, Darrell, Laycock, and Mason (all named after school benefactors).

The school usually traced its original foundation back to Thomas Gunthorpe of Babworth in 1519 although there are references to a still earlier school in the town. It was refounded around 1551 during the reign of King Edward VI. It subsequently had a chequered history, twice coming close to collapse during the 19th century. The school accepted boarders from at least the 17th century onwards, but the last boarders left in 1938. During the Second World War a number of boys from the Great Yarmouth Grammar School were evacuated to Retford (from 1940–44).
Headmasters of King Edward VI Grammar School
?1551 Rev. Christopher Say, LL.B., Jesus College, Cambridge

1588 Rev. George Turvyn, MA, MA, Trinity College, Cambridge

?1605 Rev Thomas Cooper, MA, Corpus Christi College, Cambridge

1628 Rev.Nicholas Dickons, MA, Pembroke College, Cambridge

1638 Thomas Stacey, MA, Corpus Christi College, Cambridge

1642 Rev. Thomas Dand, MA, Trinity College, Cambridge

1669 Robert Pinchbeck

1670 Henry Boawre, MA, St John’s College, Cambridge

1702 Rev. Thomas Moore, St John’s College, Cambridge

1708 Rev. Henry Stevenson

1748 Rev. Seth Ellis Stevenson, MA, Peterhouse, Cambridge
A diary kept by Seth Ellis Stevenson between 1752-55 survives in Wigan Archives. Another diary from 1760-77 is in Nottingham University Library.
1793 Rev. William Tyre, MA, Pembroke College, Oxford

1801 Rev. William Mould, MA, Peterhouse, Cambridge

1838 Rev. William Henry Trentham, MA, St John’s College, Cambridge
Trentham resigned and died in 1842. From 1842-47 no headmaster was appointed, although the usher, James Holderness, continued to teach a few pupils
1847 Rev. John Henry Brown, MA, Trinity College, Cambridge (later
headmaster of Brewood Grammar School
Brewood Grammar School
Brewood Grammar School was a boys' school in the village of Brewood in South Staffordshire, England.Founded in the mid 15th century by the Bishop of Lichfield as a chantry school it was closed by the 1547 Act of Dissolution of Chantries...

, Staffordshire)
Following Brown's departure, no headmaster was appointed between 1850-57. Henry Clarke Michinson, the usher and sole remaining teacher, was acting headmaster, but his alleged harshness in corporal punishment led to various complaints and to an eventual court case.
1857 Rev. Jonathan Page Clayton, MA, Caius College, Cambridge

1866 Rev. Edward Swinden Sanderson, MA, Corpus Christi College,
Cambridge

1870 Rev. Frederick Richard Pentreath, MA, DD, Worcester College, Oxford

1873 Rev. Alfred John Church
Alfred John Church
Alfred John Church was an English classical scholar.Church was born in London and was educated at King's College London, and Lincoln College, Oxford. He took holy orders and was an assistant-master at Merchant Taylors' School from 1857-70...

, MA, Lincoln College, Oxford

1880 Rev. Oliver Carter Cockrem, MA, LLD, Trinity College, Dublin

1886 Rev. Thomas Gough, BSc, FGS, London University
Gough was formerly headmaster of Elmfield College
Elmfield College
Elmfield College, York , originally called "Connexional College" or "Jubilee College" in honour of the Primitive Methodist Silver Jubilee in 1860, was a Primitive Methodist college on the outskirts of Heworth, York, England, near Monk Stray.-Primitive Methodism in York:The college was a national...

, York. Historian A D Grounds commented that "he may with justice be called the school's second founder".

1919 Charles Roland Skrimshire, MA, Merton College, Oxford

1926 Charles William Pilkington-Rogers, MA, BSc., Queens’ College, Cambridge

1950 John Charles Havelock Gover, MA, Emmanuel College, Cambridge

c1972 Tom Savage

c1978 Michael Allen
After amalgamating with the Sir Frederick Milner Secondary School in 1979, the new establishment was know simply as the King Edward VI School until the eventual second merger into the Oaks School.
Earlier there was also the Retford County High School for Girls on Pelham Road – a Girls' grammar school.

Previous schools up to 2003

Before 1979, the former Sir Frederick Milner Secondary School (an all male secondary modern school
Secondary modern school
A secondary modern school is a type of secondary school that existed in most of the United Kingdom from 1944 until the early 1970s, under the Tripartite System, and was designed for the majority of pupils - those who do not achieve scores in the top 25% of the eleven plus examination...

) was on Pennington Walk, with around 500 boys, in the east of the town. This became part of the King Edward VI School, a voluntary controlled school
Voluntary controlled school
A voluntary controlled school is a state-funded school in England, Wales and Northern Ireland in which a foundation or trust has some formal influence in the running of the school...

, and was used as the sixth form site prior to the new Post-16 centre being opened in 2007. The former site will become residential properties. Sir Frederick Milner was the Conservative MP from 1890–1906 for Bassetlaw
Bassetlaw (UK Parliament constituency)
Bassetlaw is a parliamentary constituency represented in the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It elects one Member of Parliament by the first past the post system of election.-Boundaries:...

.

The former Retford Oaks School was on a site towards Ordsall near the former leisure centre, which was the former Ordsall Hall School
Ordsall Hall School
Ordsall Hall Comprehensive School was a comprehensive school situated on Ordsall Road in the market town of East Retford in the district of Bassetlaw, Nottinghamshire.-History:...

 on Ordsall Road (now the Post-16 Centre). This merged with the King Edward VI School in 2003 forming the current school.

Regeneration

Similar to five other schools in Bassetlaw
Bassetlaw
Bassetlaw is the northernmost district of Nottinghamshire, England, with a population according to the 2001 UK census of 107,713. The borough is predominantly rural, with two towns: Worksop, site of the borough offices, and Retford...

 (two in Worksop
Worksop
Worksop is the largest town in the Bassetlaw district of Nottinghamshire, England on the River Ryton at the northern edge of Sherwood Forest. It is about east-south-east of the City of Sheffield and its population is estimated to be 39,800...

 and one in Tuxford
Tuxford
-Geography:Tuxford is a village and a civil parish on the southern edge of the Bassetlaw district of Nottinghamshire, England. It may also be considered a small town as it was historically a market town. Nearby larger towns are Retford and Newark-on-Trent. From Harvest Cottage, near the ECML, the...

, Bircotes
Bircotes
Bircotes is a mining town in the Bassetlaw district of Nottinghamshire, on the border with the metropolitan borough of Doncaster . It is located at , and forms the civil parish of Harworth and Bircotes with its neighbour Harworth. The parish has a population of around 8,000 people. The nearest...

 and The Elizabethan High School
The Elizabethan High School
The Elizabethan High School, alongside Retford Oaks High School and St Giles Special School, is one of three secondary schools in the Nottinghamshire market town of Retford...

 in Retford), the school underwent an extensive rebuilding programme under PFI
Private Finance Initiative
The private finance initiative is a way of creating "public–private partnerships" by funding public infrastructure projects with private capital...

 funding. It was not possible to develop the King Edward VI School site as a Post-16 Centre (even though the county council wanted to), because the county council did not own the property so an entirely new site was built on Babworth Road. This site is for ages 11–16. On the former Ordsall Hall site, a new leisure centre was built (nextdoor) in January 2008 and a separate Post-16 (sixth form) Centre was built in September 2007, when the 11–16 site opened as well. Worksop has also had a new sixth form (and leisure centre) built under the same PFI contract.

King Edward VI Grammar School

  • Anthony Barber, Baron Barber of Wentbridge
    Anthony Barber, Baron Barber
    Anthony Perrinott Lysberg Barber, Baron Barber, PC, DL was a British Conservative politician who served as a member of both the House of Commons and the House of Lords....

    , Chancellor of the Exchequer
    Chancellor of the Exchequer
    The Chancellor of the Exchequer is the title held by the British Cabinet minister who is responsible for all economic and financial matters. Often simply called the Chancellor, the office-holder controls HM Treasury and plays a role akin to the posts of Minister of Finance or Secretary of the...

     1970-4 and Conservative MP for Doncaster
    Doncaster (UK Parliament constituency)
    Doncaster was a Parliamentary constituency covering the town of Doncaster in England. The constituency was created in 1885 and abolished in 1983.- Boundaries :...

     from 1951–64 and for Altrincham and Sale West from 1965–74
  • Wing Commander
    Wing Commander (rank)
    Wing commander is a commissioned rank in the Royal Air Force and the air forces of many other Commonwealth countries...

     Edward Barton CBE, electronic engineer and chief signals and radar officer of the RAF Pathfinder Force
    Pathfinder (RAF)
    The Pathfinders were elite squadrons in RAF Bomber Command during World War II. They located and marked targets with flares, which a main bomber force could aim at, increasing the accuracy of their bombing...

     (commanded by Don Bennett
    Don Bennett
    Air Vice Marshal Donald Clifford Tyndall Bennett CB CBE DSO RAF was an Australian aviation pioneer and bomber pilot who rose to be the youngest Air Vice-Marshal in the Royal Air Force. He led the "Pathfinder Force" from 1942 to the end of the Second World War in 1945...

    ), and helped to develop the Oboe
    Oboe (navigation)
    Oboe was a British aerial blind bombing targeting system in World War II, based on radio transponder technology. Oboe accurately measured the distance to an aircraft, and gave the pilot guidance on whether or not they were flying along a pre-selected circular route. The route was only 35 yards...

     navigation system
  • John Lumby Bishop, RAF Lightning
    English Electric Lightning
    The English Electric Lightning is a supersonic jet fighter aircraft of the Cold War era, noted for its great speed and unpainted natural metal exterior finish. It is the only all-British Mach 2 fighter aircraft. The aircraft was renowned for its capabilities as an interceptor; Royal Air Force ...

     fighter-pilot in Germany awarded Queen's Commendation
    Queen's Commendation for Valuable Service
    The Queen's Commendation for Valuable Service is a British military award that recognises meritorious service during, or in support of, operations...

    ; RAF Test Pilot
    Empire Test Pilots' School
    The Empire Test Pilots' School is a British training school for test pilots and flight test engineers of fixed-wing and rotary-wing aircraft at MoD Boscombe Down in Wiltshire, England. It was established in 1943, the first of its type...

     at Farnborough awarded Air Force Cross
    Air Force Cross (United Kingdom)
    The Air Force Cross is a military decoration awarded to personnel of the United Kingdom Armed Forces, and formerly also to officers of the other Commonwealth countries, for "an act or acts of valour, courage or devotion to duty whilst flying, though not in active operations against the enemy"...

     ; Whitehall Ministry of Defence
    Ministry of Defence (United Kingdom)
    The Ministry of Defence is the United Kingdom government department responsible for implementation of government defence policy and is the headquarters of the British Armed Forces....

     staff officer; part of NAMMA team in Munich Germany responsible for the Tornado aircraft construction & development programme; Commander of Royal Aircraft Establishment Bedford ; British Air Attache Berne Switzerland; Director of MILCO Switzerland; Headed the multi-million Inward Investment and Construction of "Marco Island" Nottingham.
  • John Hedley Brooke
    John Hedley Brooke
    John Hedley Brooke is a British Historian of Science specialising in the relationship between science and religion.-Biography:...

    , science historian
  • Dr Michael Clark, Conservative MP for Rochford
    Rochford (UK Parliament constituency)
    Rochford was a parliamentary constituency in Essex, centred on the town of Rochford.It returned one Member of Parliament to the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom from 1983 until it was abolished for the 1997 general election....

     from 1983–97 and for Rayleigh
    Rayleigh (UK Parliament constituency)
    Rayleigh was a parliamentary constituency in Essex represented in the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It elected one Member of Parliament by the first past the post system of election...

     from 1997–2001
  • Doc Cox
    Doc Cox
    Robert "Doc" Cox , also known as Ivor Biggun, is a British musician and former television journalist...

    , TV presenter, notorious musician
  • Douglas Hay, former President of the Institution of Mining Engineers (merged with the Institution of Mining and Metallurgy
    Institution of Mining and Metallurgy
    Institution of Mining and Metallurgy was a British research institution, founded in 1892.In 2002, it merged with The Institute of Materials to form the The Institute of Materials, Minerals and Mining...

     in 1998), and Chief Mining Engineer from 1946–9 of the National Coal Board
    National Coal Board
    The National Coal Board was the statutory corporation created to run the nationalised coal mining industry in the United Kingdom. Set up under the Coal Industry Nationalisation Act 1946, it took over the mines on "vesting day", 1 January 1947...

  • Cyril Bowdler Henry, oral surgeon
  • Thomas Henry, founder and former President of the British Association of Oral Surgeons
    British Association of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgeons
    The British Association of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgeons is the British medical association for oral and maxillofacial surgeons - dentists who are also trained in oral surgery.-History:...

    , younger brother of Cyril
  • Very Rev Richard William Herrick
    Richard William Herrick
    The Very Rev Richard William Herrick was an eminent Anglican priest in the 20th century. He was educated at King Edward VI School Retford and Leeds University and was initially a civil servant. He was ordained after a period of study at the College of the Resurrection, Mirfield in 1940...

  • H. Raymond King, educationist and Headmaster from 1932–63 of Wandsworth School
    Saint Cecilia's, Wandsworth Church of England School
    Saint Cecilia's, Wandsworth Church of England Secondary School is a state-funded Church of England secondary school in Southfields, south-west London. It opened in 2003 at a cost of 12.4 million pounds.-Admissions:In September 2009 it became a specialist Music and Maths College...

     (later comprehensive from 1956), and early proponent of comprehensive schools through his Conference for the Democratic Reconstruction of Education and the English New Education Fellowship
  • Very Rev Frank Fairbairn Laming
    Frank Fairbairn Laming
    The Very Rev Frank Fairbairn Laming was an eminent Anglican priest in the 20th century. He was born on 24 August 1908 and educated at Durham University and Edinburgh Theological College and ordained in 1937. His first post was as Assistant Priest at Christ Church, Glasgow. He was then Priest in...

  • Robert Mellors
    Robert Mellors
    Robert Mellors OBE , is an expert in tropical agriculture and governance.He spent his childhood in Rampton, Nottinghamshire. He attended Retford Grammar School and Balliol College, Oxford, where he was awarded an MA in Agriculture...

     OBE
  • Samuel Milner
    Samuel Milner
    Samuel Roslington Milner was a British physicist and a Fellow of the Royal Society.Education: King Edward VI School, Retford; University College, Bristol; University of Göttingen.-Career:* 1851 Exhibition Scholar, 1895-1898...

    , physicist, Professor of Physics from 1921–40 at the University of Sheffield
    University of Sheffield
    The University of Sheffield is a research university based in the city of Sheffield in South Yorkshire, England. It is one of the original 'red brick' universities and is a member of the Russell Group of leading research intensive universities...

  • Air Marshal
    Air Marshal
    Air marshal is a three-star air-officer rank which originated in and continues to be used by the Royal Air Force...

     Sir Alec Morris CB
    Order of the Bath
    The Most Honourable Order of the Bath is a British order of chivalry founded by George I on 18 May 1725. The name derives from the elaborate mediæval ceremony for creating a knight, which involved bathing as one of its elements. The knights so created were known as Knights of the Bath...

    , Chief Engineer from 1981–3 of the RAF
    Royal Air Force
    The Royal Air Force is the aerial warfare service branch of the British Armed Forces. Formed on 1 April 1918, it is the oldest independent air force in the world...

  • John Pater CB, civil servant largely responsible for creating the NHS
    National Health Service
    The National Health Service is the shared name of three of the four publicly funded healthcare systems in the United Kingdom. They provide a comprehensive range of health services, the vast majority of which are free at the point of use to residents of the United Kingdom...

     (England and Wales) in 1948, following the National Health Service Act 1946
    National Health Service Act 1946
    The National Health Service Act 1946 came into effect on 5 July 1948 and created the National Health Service in England and Wales. Though the title 'National Health Service' implies one health service for the United Kingdom, in reality a separate NHS was created for England and Wales accountable to...

  • John Taylor, writer
  • Sir Lionel Thompson CBE, Deputy Master and Comptroller of the Royal Mint from 1950–7
  • John Warham
    John Warham
    Dr John Warham was an Australian and New Zealand photographer and ornithologist notable for his research on seabirds, especially petrels....

    , photographer
  • Joe Wright CMG
    Order of St Michael and St George
    The Most Distinguished Order of Saint Michael and Saint George is an order of chivalry founded on 28 April 1818 by George, Prince Regent, later George IV of the United Kingdom, while he was acting as Prince Regent for his father, George III....

    , UK Ambassador from 1975–8 to Ivory Coast
    Côte d'Ivoire
    The Republic of Côte d'Ivoire or Ivory Coast is a country in West Africa. It has an area of , and borders the countries Liberia, Guinea, Mali, Burkina Faso and Ghana; its southern boundary is along the Gulf of Guinea. The country's population was 15,366,672 in 1998 and was estimated to be...

    , Upper Volta
    Republic of Upper Volta
    The Republic of Upper Volta was established on December 11, 1958, as a self-governing colony within the French Community. Before attaining autonomy it had been French Upper Volta and part of the French Union. On August 5, 1960 it attained full independence from France.Thomas Sankara came to power...

     and Niger
    Niger
    Niger , officially named the Republic of Niger, is a landlocked country in Western Africa, named after the Niger River. It borders Nigeria and Benin to the south, Burkina Faso and Mali to the west, Algeria and Libya to the north and Chad to the east...


Sir Frederick Milner Secondary Modern (to 1979)

  • Derek Randall
    Derek Randall
    Derek William Randall is an English former cricketer, who played first-class cricket for Nottinghamshire, and Tests and ODIs for England in the late 1970s and early 1980s....

    , England cricketer.
  • John Lumby Bishop, see above entry under King Edward VI Grammar School; John Bishop was two years at "Sir Fred's"

Contact

  • Tel: 01777 861618
  • Email: office@retfordoaks-ac.org.uk
  • Web: www.retfordoaks-ac.org.uk

See also

  • The Elizabethan High School
    The Elizabethan High School
    The Elizabethan High School, alongside Retford Oaks High School and St Giles Special School, is one of three secondary schools in the Nottinghamshire market town of Retford...

     – the other Retford comprehensive on Hallcroft Road.
  • Retford Post 16 Centre – Post 16 centre run in partnership with The Elizabethan High School
    The Elizabethan High School
    The Elizabethan High School, alongside Retford Oaks High School and St Giles Special School, is one of three secondary schools in the Nottinghamshire market town of Retford...


External links


News items

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