Lutterworth College
Encyclopedia
Lutterworth College is a large 14–19 non-selective Upper School with a fully comprehensive intake, situated in the rural market town of Lutterworth
in district of Harborough
in the South Leicestershire countryside. A Specialist Technology and Applied Learning College and Church of England Voluntary Controlled school.
There has been a school on the site since 1880. Lutterworth Grammar School grew from a small boys’ grammar eventually into a large mixed comprehensive school in 1967. In 2006, Governors agreed to change the school's name to Lutterworth College. As the school has grown in size (from around 750 in 1967 to over 2000 today) the site has grown, but remains in its original Lutterworth location.
There are around 2100 students on roll, with around 800 of these being in post-16 education (over 70% of Y11 currently stay on post-16). Numbers are projected to be stable (between 2000-2100) for the next five years, according to the Local Authority. There are two main feeder 11–14 high schools (Lutterworth High School and Brockington College) and also a substantial amount from a third school (Thomas Estley Community College). The intake is above national average attainment, mainly rural Leicestershire (but with increasing numbers of Leicester City suburbs children) The full range of ability is welcomed into the college. About 1400 students come to school by school buses.
The last full Ofsted inspection was in November 2008, under the 2009 framework as a pilot inspection. Overall, the college was judged to be good in all aspects with some outstanding features. Part of the moral purpose of the college is to be judged as “outstanding” in all aspects during the next inspection.
groups, with the UK Life League
even publishing the principal's home number and address and compelling people to protest outside it. They have since taken these down, citing that they had moved onto new projects. In the spirit of the school, the students maintained strong support for the head teacher, and the "Strictly Confidential" service.
It later came to light that the "Strictly Confidential" service offered by the school was in fact introduced two years before the current headmaster had begun working there. Furthermore, it was completely controlled by the local doctor's practice, not by the school. Students went on to form a Myspace page dedicated to supporting their headmaster, and hundreds of students signed up. This resulted in the anti-abortion groups' and newspapers' attempts to damage the school's reputation failing, particularly due to widespread local support.
In August 2008, Pat Schofield, an external examinations officer who works at the college, complained about Carol Ann Duffy
's poem "Education For Leisure", describing it as "absolutely horrendous" due to its references to knife crime. Duffy responded by writing a poem entitled "Mrs Schofield's GCSE", highlighting the use of violence and stabbings in Shakespeare's plays. In response, Schofield said that she was "gobsmacked" and that she found the poem "a bit weird" as she found much of Duffy's poetry. Many of the school's students resented the decision to remove the poem (having the opinion that it was by far one of the most interesting to examine, and also one of the easiest to compare and contrast with) and felt that Mrs Schofield clearly had only a very basic understanding of poetry. The poem was then replaced.
Lutterworth
Lutterworth is a market town and civil parish in the Harborough district of Leicestershire, England. The town is located in southern Leicestershire, north of Rugby, in Warwickshire and south of Leicester. It had a population of 8,293 in the 2001 UK census....
in district of Harborough
Harborough
Harborough is a local government district of Leicestershire, England, named after its main town, Market Harborough. Covering , the District is by far the largest of the eight district authorities in Leicestershire and covers almost a quarter of the County....
in the South Leicestershire countryside. A Specialist Technology and Applied Learning College and Church of England Voluntary Controlled school.
There has been a school on the site since 1880. Lutterworth Grammar School grew from a small boys’ grammar eventually into a large mixed comprehensive school in 1967. In 2006, Governors agreed to change the school's name to Lutterworth College. As the school has grown in size (from around 750 in 1967 to over 2000 today) the site has grown, but remains in its original Lutterworth location.
There are around 2100 students on roll, with around 800 of these being in post-16 education (over 70% of Y11 currently stay on post-16). Numbers are projected to be stable (between 2000-2100) for the next five years, according to the Local Authority. There are two main feeder 11–14 high schools (Lutterworth High School and Brockington College) and also a substantial amount from a third school (Thomas Estley Community College). The intake is above national average attainment, mainly rural Leicestershire (but with increasing numbers of Leicester City suburbs children) The full range of ability is welcomed into the college. About 1400 students come to school by school buses.
The last full Ofsted inspection was in November 2008, under the 2009 framework as a pilot inspection. Overall, the college was judged to be good in all aspects with some outstanding features. Part of the moral purpose of the college is to be judged as “outstanding” in all aspects during the next inspection.
Controversy
An article published by the News of the World newspaper under the headline "It's St. Sinians", on April 29, 2007, revealed that for the four years up to 2007, it handed out 345 morning-after pills to girls at the school. This ranked it one of the highest distributors in the country. The article was followed widely, and covered in the following days by newspapers including the Daily Mail and Daily Mirror. However the school defended itself in saying that it runs a "Strictly Confidential" service at the school, which allows students to meet a doctor in school time. The school faced especially strong opposition from pro-lifePro-life
Opposition to the legalization of abortion is centered around the pro-life, or anti-abortion, movement, a social and political movement opposing elective abortion on moral grounds and supporting its legal prohibition or restriction...
groups, with the UK Life League
UK Life League
UK Life League is a British pressure group that opposes abortion. It describes itself as "The premier pro-life and family values campaigning organisation" and as "peacefully campaigning to end the violence of abortion"....
even publishing the principal's home number and address and compelling people to protest outside it. They have since taken these down, citing that they had moved onto new projects. In the spirit of the school, the students maintained strong support for the head teacher, and the "Strictly Confidential" service.
It later came to light that the "Strictly Confidential" service offered by the school was in fact introduced two years before the current headmaster had begun working there. Furthermore, it was completely controlled by the local doctor's practice, not by the school. Students went on to form a Myspace page dedicated to supporting their headmaster, and hundreds of students signed up. This resulted in the anti-abortion groups' and newspapers' attempts to damage the school's reputation failing, particularly due to widespread local support.
In August 2008, Pat Schofield, an external examinations officer who works at the college, complained about Carol Ann Duffy
Carol Ann Duffy
Carol Ann Duffy, CBE, FRSL is a Scottish poet and playwright. She is Professor of Contemporary Poetry at the Manchester Metropolitan University, and was appointed Britain's poet laureate in May 2009...
's poem "Education For Leisure", describing it as "absolutely horrendous" due to its references to knife crime. Duffy responded by writing a poem entitled "Mrs Schofield's GCSE", highlighting the use of violence and stabbings in Shakespeare's plays. In response, Schofield said that she was "gobsmacked" and that she found the poem "a bit weird" as she found much of Duffy's poetry. Many of the school's students resented the decision to remove the poem (having the opinion that it was by far one of the most interesting to examine, and also one of the easiest to compare and contrast with) and felt that Mrs Schofield clearly had only a very basic understanding of poetry. The poem was then replaced.
Notable alumni
- Kid AcneKid acneKid Acne is an artist, illustrator and hip-hop musician. He was born in Lilongwe, Malawi in 1978. He grew up in Lutterworth, Leicestershire and is currently based in Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England.-Early work:...
, artist and musician - Richard ArmitageRichard Armitage (actor)Richard Crispin Armitage is an English actor famous for his roles as John Thornton in North and South, Guy of Gisborne in Robin Hood, and Lucas North in Spooks...
, actor - Stephen BiestyStephen BiestyStephen Biesty is a British illustrator. He was born in Coventry and grew up in Leicestershire. In 1979 he joined Loughborough College of Art and Design where he did an arts foundation course. In 1980 he moved to Brighton Polytechnic to gain a BA Hons in Graphic Design specialising in...
, author - Nick CookNick Cook (cricketer)Nicholas "Nick" Grant Billson Cook is a former English cricketer who played in fifteen Tests and three ODIs from 1983 to 1989. A slow left-arm orthodox spin bowler and a lower order right-handed batsman, he played first-class and List A cricket from 1978 to 1994. He is currently an ECB appointed...
, cricketer - Kristyna MylesKristyna MylesKristyna Myles is a British singer-songwriter who is currently based in Manchester. Originally from Leicestershire, she came into prominence after winning Busk Idol, a 2005 nationwide singing competition organised by BBC Radio 5 Live...
, musician - Richard Neale, conservative MP
- Geoff Peters, broadcaster and DJ
- Anthony ThistlethwaiteAnthony ThistlethwaiteAnthony "Anto" Thistlethwaite is a British multi-instrumentalist best known as a founder member of the folk-rock group The Waterboys and later as a long-standing member of Irish rock band The Saw Doctors.After a year busking in Paris, playing tenor saxophone around the streets of the Latin...
, musician - John Ashton (guitarist)John Ashton (guitarist)John Ashton , is a British musician, songwriter and record producer. He was a guitarist for and founding member of the Psychedelic Furs along with brothers Tim and Richard Butler...
, musician - Alex Thomas, musician
- John Cooper (athlete)John Cooper (athlete)John Cooper was a British athlete who competed mainly in the 400 metre hurdles.He competed for Great Britain in the 1964 Summer Olympics held in Tokyo, Japan in the 400 metre hurdles where he won the silver medal...
, athlete - Jonnie IrwinJonnie Irwin–Jonnie Irwin is a British television presenter.-Early career:Prior to working in television, Irwin worked for business transfer specialists Christie & Co becoming associate director within three years, before going on to work for .-Television career:In 2004, Irwin was selected along with...
, television presenter