Cherry Willingham Community School

Admissions

The school is situated at the junction of Hawthorn Road and Croft Lane' on the northern edge of the village and parish, the opposite side of Hawthorne Road being the Parish of Reepham. The school houses around 500 pupils. Recently, Cherry Willingham Community School has begun taking steps to form their own Sixth Form, jointly with Yarborough High School, in Lincoln.

Secondary modern school

Cherry Willingham Secondary Modern School was built during 1964-65, and opened in 1965 to serve the villages of Cherry Willingham, Reepham, Fiskerton, Greetwell, Langworth and Nettleham. The school replaced the old secondary school that was sited at Fiskerton and many of the teachers who taught at Fiskerton transferred to Cherry Willingham. The first headteacher was Jock Borthwick. Pupils who passed the 11plus examination and went on to a grammar school, went either to Lincoln or to De Aston School in Market Rasen. This situation continued until 1974, when the education system was reformed through the Local Government Act 1972, after which administration of the school was transferred from Lindsey Education Committee to Lincolnshire County Council.

Comprehensive

After the 1970s reform of the education system, Cherry Willingham changed from a secondary modern to a comprehensive school, and built what became known as The New Block to house the rising number of pupils. Mobile classrooms were also housed on the playground.

In 1984 Jock Borthwick retired, Peter Fletcher replacing him as headmaster. Fletcher fought to save the school from closure as either Cherry Willingham or Sturton by Stow school was to close; Cherry Willingham survived. Fletcher left to become a Schools Inspector. John Whittle became headmaster in summer 1987, and David Mills in 1993.

During the later 1980s the mobile classrooms were removed. At this time the school had a small farm situated on the site of a previous outdoor swimming pool. The farm included rare breed chickens, ducks, rabbits and sheep, which the school exhibited at the Lincolnshire Show.

In 1991 the Technology Block was updated accommodate curriculum changes and subjects taught. The typing room, joint needlework and domestic science rooms, and metalwork and woodwork rooms were modernised to provide practical and theory lessons in technology, textiles, food technology, design realisation and graphics. The block was opened on 6 December 1991 by Edward Leigh MP. In 1974 the Partial Hearing Unit was opened in two classrooms in the original main block. The unit's main room maximised sound quality by including baffled walls, double doors, double-glazing, curtains and carpeted floors.

A garage area, previously used to build canoes, and later used as a potting shed and store, was converted to the Dorothy Bowman Art Studio, named after Dorothy Bowman, Chair of the Governors since the school opened.

New buildings

In January 1998 a new block to house music, music practice rooms, drama, two classrooms and offices was opened. The block was built parallel to the main block and in line with the older New Block. The school decided to honour the first headteacher, naming the block, the Borthwick Block.

Work followed to update the older concrete New Block shortly afterwards. Windows were replaced, a pitched roof added and walls insulated, and a facing applied to give the appearance of red brick. These works reduced condensation and increased heating efficiency. The building was renamed Fletcher Block and was officially re-opened by former headteacher, Peter Fletcher, who at that time was the Director of Education in Hull.

A new sports complex, complete with dance studio, weights room and gymnasium, changing rooms and a large main sports hall, was officially opened on 10 October 2001 by Princess Alexandra.

In 2003 it became a Specialist Sports College, and was in 2007 rated as a High Performing Specialist School. This led to its acquiring its further specialisms of mathematics and computing in 2008.

Foundation School

Although the school is no longer a community school, since the school became a foundation school in April 2008; its "Community School" title was retained because of its nature and its close relationship with the local community.

Fire

The school suffered a major fire to the school's Main Block on 23 April 2010. There was significant damage to the first, second and ground floors, due to heat and smoke (with water damage caused by the attempts of fire fighters to extinguish the fire). The fire was apparently caused by an electrical fault, although the exact cause has yet to be identified. The building was repaired, officially reopened, and now includes computer suites.

Facts

In 2015 the school was classified as `Inadequate` and put into `Special Measures` by OFSTED following a visit by Inspectors in June 2015. This further downgrading of status came within a year of OFSTED Inspectors reporting that the school `Requires Improvement`. The 2015 report was released during the school holiday period (August) and was not well received by either the school or the County Council. The report was widely reported in the local media. Subsequent GCSE results for students have not been reported at the time of editing but the school was rated 42= (out of 55),in comparable schools in England in a link on their website. This position has further eroded to 49th position(out of 55), following the January 2016 comparison table. Current student numbers are (approx.) 284 and seemingly reducing in each academic term.

Buildings

Awards

LSSG

The school joined with six other secondary schools in the area to make the 'Lincoln Specialist Schools Group' (LSSG) in July 2007. The move will see the schools share staff, specialist resources and even governors.

Schools in LSSG: