Harton Academy


Harton Academy is a mixed secondary school and sixth form located in South Shields, Tyne and Wear, England. It founded on the existing site in 1936.
In 2006, Ofsted rated the school as 'outstanding' and it has received three Government Achievement awards, as well as being named in the 'top 50 most improved specialist schools' throughout the UK. In 2009 Ofsted highlighted Harton as one of 12 outstanding schools serving disadvantaged communities. In 2013, they delivered a similar report.
As part of the Building Schools for the Future initiative, in 2010 the school completed twenty-five million pounds' worth of construction on a new sixth-form building—holding specially designed DT, Maths and Science blocks—which initially housed existing pupils while refurbishment of the main building was under way. The school designed the new building specifically for Sixth Form usage with whole-school Maths, Science, Design Technology and cafeteria, whilst the refurbished old block contains English, Humanities, Computer Science, Music and Modern Foreign Languages. In the summer of 2015, the swimming pool facilities were redeveloped to the cost of £400,000.
In 2011, the National College for Teaching and Leadership announced Harton Academy as one of the first one hundred Teaching Schools to be designated from the start of 2011–2012 academic year; one of only five secondary schools in the north east, and one of only fifty-six secondary schools in the country, to receive the recognition. This new designation entitles the academy to lead the training and professional development of staff from across the North East region.
As part of HM Queen Elizabeth II's birthday honours list for 2013, the executive head teacher, Ken Gibson was knighted on the grounds of "excellence in administrating education".

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Notable former pupils

South Shields High School (1885–1936)