Barnes Wallis Academy

Barnes Wallis Academy (formerly Gartree Community School) is a coeducational secondary school located in the village of Tattershall in Lincolnshire, England.

Governance
Gartree Community School, previously a foundation school administered by Lincolnshire County Council, converted to academy status on 1 September 2014 and was renamed to Barnes Wallis Academy. The school is now sponsored by the David Ross Education Trust, but continues to coordinate with Lincolnshire County Council for admissions.

Ofsted inspections and rating
After a full inspection on 5 July 2017, Ofsted rated the Academy as 'Good' and said, "Leaders have created a well-designed curriculum, which provides wide-ranging opportunities for pupils to secure their spiritual, moral, social and cultural development. Pupils are well prepared for life in modern Britain."

After a school inspection on 6 December 2022, Ofsted continues to rate the Academy as 'Good.'

Curriculum
The Academy aims to provide a broad, but balanced, curriculum that encourages pupils to progress. It introduces its pupils to a range of practical, academic, social, and personal skills.

Using Key Stage 2 data, pupils entering Year 7 are grouped for core subjects by ability; these groups are reviewed regularly to ensure pupils are comfortable but challenged.

Support is available for pupils with disabilities or other special educational needs.

Key Stage 3
All pupils study English, Mathematics, Science (Biology, Chemistry, and Physics), Geography, History, French, Information Technology, Music, Art Design and Technology, Food Preparation and Nutrition, PSHCE, Religious Studies, and Physical Education.

Key Stage 4
English (Language and Literature), Mathematics, and a Science (Combined, if nothing more specific is chosen) are compulsory, as is a Humanities subject (History or Geography). Most pupils study French. Pupils then study, depending on subjects chosen, an additional three or four subjects for qualifications at GCSE, BTEC, or NFCE.

History
Woodhall Spa Urban District had tried to get the school placed at Woodhall Spa, during 1950. Lindsey Education Committee gave the go-ahead for the new school in July 1951, and it was to cost £63,659.

The architect was Denis Clarke Hall, son of Edna Clarke Hall, of architectural practice Denis Clarke Hall, Scorer & Bright. It was built by J.T. Barber & Son, of Boston. The structural steelwork was by Robert Stevenson of Norwich. The school was named after the former Gartree wapentake. There were six classrooms, and the site was 12 acres. It cost around £70,000. It had a two-form entry. It would be the first stage of a much larger school.

It took 260 children from Mareham-le-Fen, Revesby, Tumby Woodside, Wildmore and Woodhall Spa. It had room for 320. The school opened in April 1954.

The school was officially opened on Thursday 7 October 1954 by Lincolnshire MP Harry Crookshank, who was Minister of Health from 1951-52. The MP said that one of the most important things that you get from a full education is the ability to try and distinguish the nonsense from the genuine - the wheat from the chaff. Also at the opening was the Chairman of Lindsey County Council, Lt-Col Sir Weston Cracroft-Amcotts, and the Director of Education for Lindsey, Frederick Birkbeck. The headmaster was Mr D Parkin.

In July 1955, the talk at the prize day was given by Douglas Valder Duff. The talk at the July 1956 speech day was given by Sir John Maitland, the local Conservative MP, who had been a Commander in the Royal Navy; he said that secondary modern schools were in an experimental stage, but that Gartree was doing 'excellent work'.

In 1970, new buildings were added to allow for 150 more children, as RAF Coningsby was being transformed, in the late 1960s, into the main frontline fighter station, that it now is. The new buildings were a hall, two art and crafts rooms, metalwork room, technical drawing room, two housecraft rooms, and three science laboratories. The dining facilities were upgraded. It would cost £100,904.

Sir Lawrence Byford, Chief Constable from 1973-77 of Lincolnshire Police, gave a talk at the prize day in July 1973, under headmaster Harold Spicker; although the chief constable liked academic success, he also thought that 'the art of good citizenship is equally important on the road to success and happiness'; the chief constable also said that qualities such as humility and sincerity of purpose, with constant consideration for the rights of others, were all worth cultivating.

Former teachers

 * Peggy Watson, of Low Hameringham, wife of Colin Watson (writer), known for his Flaxborough series of books