De Aston School

Market Rasen De Aston School

Established	1863
Type	Foundation School
Religion	Christian
Headteacher	Ellenor Beighton
Specialism	Maths & Computing
Location	Willingham Road Market Rasen Lincolnshire LN8 3RF England
Local authority	Lincolnshire
DfE number	???/4514
DfE URN	120663
Ofsted	Reports
Students	1067
Gender	Mixed
Ages	11–18
Publication	Inside Story
Website	De Aston

Coordinates: 53°23′01″N 0°19′32″W / 53.3836°N 0.3255°W / 53.3836; -0.3255

De Aston School is a voluntary controlled, mixed comprehensive school in Market Rasen, Lincolnshire, England with a sixth form college and boarding house. The school has a broad Christian ethos but accommodates those of other faiths or no faith.

Admissions

It has approximately 1,050 pupils.^[1] The school provides boarding accommodation for around 80 students, many of whom come from abroad. De Aston is a specialist school in mathematics and computing. The De Aston Sports Centre^[2] is shared with the school.^[3]

The school magazine is called the Inside Story. It is situated in the east of the town on Willingham Road (A631).

History

Grammar school

De Aston School was founded in 1863 as a small grammar school, as part of a legal settlement following a court case involving funds from the medieval charity of Thomas De Aston, a 13th-century monk. Until recently, the school's Foundation Governors also owned the Chapel at the site of the charity's Almshouses at Spital on the Street, a few miles away to the west.

The school's headmaster originally had his own house on the school site. The Victorian Gothic red brick house was built in 1863 and was designated as a Grade II listed building by English Heritage in 1984.^[4] As a grammar school it was administered by the Lindsey Education Committee, based in Lincoln, and became co-educational in 1971.

Comprehensive

It became a comprehensive in 1974 (also when Lincoln became comprehensive), amalgamating with Market Rasen Secondary Modern School on Kiln Well Road. At the same time, many new buildings were opened.

Headmasters

• Bruce McGowan 1957-64

Events

In March 2001, at the Secondary Heads' Association's conference in Newport, Ellenor Beighton, head teacher, spoke out against the current funding system for schools.^[5] Then in July 2001 Former Headmaster Anthony Neal disagreed with School Standards Minister Stephen Timms over the benefits of specialist schools saying that they create a two-tier system.^[6] Homework was being publicly discussed in December 2001 in the wake of Cherie Blair's request to the Ministry of Defence for information to help with her son's homework. Neal commented that homework was essential and central to the fact that standards were rising.^[7]

Police apologised to the school, in November 2006, after a computer error wrongly put it at the top of a national table for the number of police call-outs.^[8]

In March 2011 the school became an academy, although its name has been kept.

Academic standards

After the November 2009 inspection Ofsted rating the school Good, point two on a four point scale, reported that "This is a good school, including the overall effectiveness of the sixth form. Under the inspirational leadership of the headteacher and the governing body, ably supported by senior leaders, the school is rapidly improving and building on its strengths successfully. Their expertise in analysing data and managing interventions to deal with underachievement reflects their exceptional drive to embed ambition and drive improvement. The impact is clearly evident in the improvement of students' achievement over recent years and the significant rise in standards. The proportion of five good passes at GCSE including English and mathematics has been average, but has been improving over the last three years."^[1]

In 2009 88 per cent of students achieved five A* to C grades at GCSE. The school was placed in the top 200 most improved schools nationally.

Awards

• Investors in People
• Artsmark
• Sportsmark Gold

Notable alumni

• Sir David Chadwick, Secretary from 1927-46 of the Imperial Economic Committee
• Bruce Barrymore Halpenny - military historian and author
• Sir Walter Liddall CBE, Conservative MP from 1931-45 for Lincoln
• Michael Oglesby, High Sheriff of Greater Manchester from 2007-8
• John Scupham OBE, Controller of Educational Broadcasting from 1963-5 of the BBC
• Rod Temperton - songwriter of Thriller
• Sir Richard Wakerley, barrister
• Edward Welbourne, Master of Emmanuel College Cambridge from 1951-64
• John Graham Wallace, illustrator
• Prof Charles Wilson CBE, Professor of Modern History from 1965-79 at the University of Cambridge
• Gordon White, Baron White of Hull, co-founder of Hanson plc

Market Rasen Secondary Modern School

• Bernie Taupin, lyricist

References

1. ^ ^{a b} Inspection Report November 2009, Ofsted, published 15 January 2010
2. ^ Sports Centre
3. ^ "Wolds Leisure - De Aston Sports Centre", West Lindsey District Council
4. ^ Images of England website, reference no 196480
5. ^ "Heads attack funding 'cut'", BBC News, 25 March 2001
6. ^ "Specialist schools 'boost confidence'", BBC News, 17 July 2001
7. ^ "Are parents trying too hard?", The Daily Telegraph, December 2001
8. ^ "Police mistake brands school pupils violent", Lincolnshire Echo , 9 November 2006

• BBC News School Tables

Further reading

• Joan Harrop. A history of the development of De Aston School, Market Rasen. Middle Rasen: J Harrop, 1991.

External links

• Official site
• De Aston school history - contains details of former pupils circa 1900.
• De Aston School war memorial - contains details of former pupils who fell in the first world war.