1. History

2. Sixth form

3. New building

4. Notable former pupils

5. References

6. External links

Noel-Baker School (formerly Noel-Baker Community School) is a mixed comprehensive secondary school in Alvaston, Derby, UK. The school takes students from the Alvaston, Boulton and Crewton areas of the city. In September 2004 the school was awarded specialist school status as a Language College, by the Department for Education and Skills (DfES).^[1] The impact of this award has been limited since 2004. Students were required to take on a language at GCSE, but this has proven unpopular and since been withdrawn. Recently, just before the school moved into new buildings in September 2012, the school changed its name to Noel-Baker School.

History

The school was founded in 1960 as a Technical Grammar School, with pupils who passed the 11,12&13 plus and pupils from Allenton Technical School. Its first Headteacher was Mr W Buchan. It is named after Philip Noel-Baker, Olympic athlete, Derby South MP and Nobel Peace Prize winner. It was his achievements that formed the names of the school houses. (Nobel, Freeman, Olympic etc.) During the 1970s, the school functioned well under the firm leadership of the headteacher, Glyn John.{{cn|date=January 2019}}

However, during the early 1980s, after his retirement, (Succeeded by Mr David Gaulton as Headteacher)the school declined. This was due largely to declining results. The school drastically turned around when a new headteacher, Mr Geoff Wynne was appointed, (A Welshmen from North Wales) in the late 1980s. He took the school's GCSE results from 9% A-Cs in 1989 to 32% in 2002 when he retired. The schools GCSE results have continued to improve, moving to consistently above 30% for the key national measure of 5A*-C including English and Mathematics. Dr. Paul Davies, of Swansea, then took the role of Headteacher, his focus was on securing consistent exam results and behaviour. As Dr Paul Davies was a doctor of History he would sometimes cover History lessons in order to gain a first-hand insight into students opinions of the school. The success of his brief spell as headmaster was great, as student GCSE A*-C grades saw a gradual percentage increase, although were still quite low compared to other secondary schools in the Derby area. The school has since seen year-on-year development of GCSE results. Dr. Davies left the position of head master to join the Local Authority as Head of Secondary Learning^[2] following his departure Margaret Eley took the position of Acting Headteacher in the interim period. In 2009 Mal Kerr, of Wirksworth, became Headteacher.^[3]

Sixth form

As well as catering for 11- to 16-year-olds (years 7-11), the school also has a Sixth Form for 16- to 18-year-olds.

New building

The new school building construction has now finished. The new school has been placed on the old playing fields. The old building, which was exceeding 50 years old, has been demolished. The new Noel Baker construction had been prepared for the beginning of the school year in September 2012 at a cost of £34 million. The 1150 pupils of Noel Baker have combined with 90 pupils from St.Martin's special school - a school which operates to educate special needs students.^[4]

The construction of the new Noel-Baker has made it the most expensive new-build school in the area in comparison to Merrill College's construction which cost £15 million and Derby Moor whose refurbishment cost £19 million.{{citation needed|date=September 2014}}

Notable former pupils

• Dame Glenda Bailey - editor of US flagship fashion magazine Harper's Bazaar^[5]
• Keith Dowding - Professor of Political Science, ANU
• Jordon Mutch - Birmingham City football club (midfielder)
• Ivan Gaskell - BBC Sports Presenter
• Janek Sirrs - Cinema special effects artist/award winner.

References

External links

• Noel-Baker Community School website
• Ofsted Reports

• The Langhorns
• The Langley Schools Music Project
• The Language Construction Kit
• The Language Instinct
• The language of flowers
• The Language of the Genes
• The Language Police
• The Languages of Africa
• The Languages of Pao
• The languages policies of France
• The Lantern
• The Lantern Bearers (Sutcliff novel)
• The Laptop EP
• The Laramie Project
• Thelarche
• The Larger Catechism
• The Large Scale Structure of Space-Time
• The Larry Sanders show
• The Larry Sanders Show
• The Lars family
• The Las
• The La's
• The Lasagna Zone
• The La's (album)
• The LaSells Stewart Center