As part of United Learning, the academy is committed to an ethos of 'the best in everyone'. This is underpinned by six core values:
Ambition – to achieve the best for ourselves and others;
Confidence – to have the courage of our convictions and to take risks in the right cause;
Creativity – to imagine possibilities and make them real;
Respect – of ourselves and others in all that we do;
Enthusiasm – to seek opportunity, find what is good and pursue talents and interests;
Determination – to overcome obstacles and reach success.
History
The school was previously called John Smeaton Community High School, named after 18th-century civil engineer John Smeaton of Austhorpe, and its buildings occupied the site of the current school playing fields. Until August 1992, a middle school occupied one of the buildings on the school site. The original school buildings were demolished in 2007 to make way for a new school, built by Carillion, at cost of £100 million. The school was called John Smeaton Community College for a short time. The school became an academy in 2014 and joined multi-academy trust United Learning.
Notable former pupils and staff
- Former Head Teacher at the school from 1983-1997 and then Liberal Democrat politician. Willis was Member of Parliament for Harrogate and Knaresborough from 1997 until retiring at the 2010 general election. Up to that date he was the chair of the House of Commons Science and Technology Committee. On 18 June 2010, Willis was created a life peer with the title Baron Willis of Knaresborough, of Harrogate in the County of North Yorkshire and was introduced in the House of Lords on 7 July 2010. Sir John Townsley - Former Teacher at the school and now Chief Executive of the Gorse Academies Trust. Sir John Townsley began teaching at the school in 1987. Townsley was knighted in the 2015 New Year Honours "for service to education and is Chief Executive Officer of The Gorse Academies Trust. Josh Warrington - Former pupil who is now an English professional Featherweight boxer. Lee Garner - Former pupil who is now a senior leader within education in Leeds, specialising in the area of inclusivity and equity in the educational sphere. Lee is quoted as saying “We don’t need reform. We need to change our thinking and approach to inclusive education so fundamentally that we don’t recognise it anymore and have to call it something else”. Until July 2019, Lee worked at Leeds East Academy in nearby Seacroft, and was part of the leadership team that led that school from “Requires Improvement” to “Good” in May 2019. He went on to support two other Leeds schools achieve “Good” judgements. In September 2019, he joined the executive team of a multi-academy trust in Leeds leading on Alternative Provision. In March 2020 and in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, Lee was the founding member of the Leeds City Region Alternative Provision Association - a group set up to inquire into and report on the question of mass student reintegration post pandemic.
Academic performance
Prior to joining United Learning and converting to an academy, the school was rated 'Inadequate' by Ofsted and placed in Special Measures. In December 2016, Ofsted inspectors concluded that the school 'Requires Improvement', praising the capacity of leaders to improve further. In August 2017, 46% of students achieved five or more A*-C grades including 4 or above in English and maths – an increase from the previous year. There were also improvements in the number of students achieving at least a grade 4 – equivalent to the old 'C' grade – in English and maths respectively.
