Beginning as a small rural secondary school of 200 pupils in 1962, Egglescliffe became a comprehensive in the 1970s, gradually growing to its current size of over 1400 pupils, including sixth formers. There have been five headteachers since it opened: Mr. Frank Davison, Mr. Alan Basset, Mr. David Oliver, Mrs. Angela Darnell and Mr. Simon White. In 2010, Mrs Darnell was awarded an OBE for "services to education". In 2012 the school celebrated its 50th anniversary.
Academic achievements
In 1999, Egglescliffe was awarded Specialist Status and designated an Arts College specialising in music and drama, since then refurbishment of the music block has transformed the interior structure of the department. Its Music Department has a longstanding reputation for performance work. The school has also been designated a National Teaching school. These are outstanding schools which have been nationally recognised for their capacity to support and help other schools to improve outcomes.
Anthony Gears and the Drama Department
From 1999 until his death on 25 June 2010, it was under the direction of Anthony Gears, joined by a team of six, teaching drama and theatre. He was succeeded as Director of Performing Arts by Harmony Gibson, his daughter. A specialist theatre was built to host the many Drama and Theatre productions throughout the school year. It is also home to Egglescliffe Youth Theatre, launched in its present form in September 1986, now one of the longest-running Theatre groups in the country. It holds weekly sessions and yearly summer productions.
Over the last 25 years many Physics students from Egglescliffe have gone on to university to excel academically in their degree courses in physics, astronomy or engineering, following this with interesting and varied careers. Some of these ex-students are profiled on the Physics Homepage - see 'External Links' below.
The school featured in an episode of The South Bank Show titled "Howard Goodall — A Musical Nation" that aired on Sunday 19 December 2004 on ITV, in which he explored Britain's musical provision for young people.
50th anniversary concert
The concert, performed at the Sage, Gateshead on 15 July 2012, was a huge success.
Notable former pupils
Andrew Levan — Professor of Physics at Warwick University, won The Philip Leverhulme Prize in 2011 for Astronomy and Astrophysics, for his research into Gamma-ray bursts, supernovae and high redshift galaxies. The prizes, each worth £70,000, are awarded to outstanding scholars who have made a substantial contribution to their particular field of study, recognised at an international level and where the expectation is that their greatest achievement is yet to come. In October 2017 Professor Levan announced discovery of a neutron star 'kilonova' having detected synchronous gravitational waves and optical signals. This has been heralded as all but conclusive evidence for gravitational radiation. Andrew was leader of the Hubble Space Telescope team for this project which involved collaboration between observers from 18 countries.
