Jack Hunt School


Jack Hunt School is a co-educational foundation, comprehensive school and specialist language and sports college in Netherton in the city of Peterborough in the United Kingdom. Students are aged 11 to 18. Refurbishment of the premises, as part of the Peterborough Secondary School Review, increased the capacity by one form of entry in each year group, with a similar increase in the sixth form, amounting to around an extra 175 places.

History

The school was officially opened by Alderman Dr. Jack Hunt, chairman of the Education Committee of the then Huntingdon and Peterborough County Council, after whom it is named. Briefly, until education in the county was reorganised in 1976, it functioned as a grammar school.
Jack Hunt School became a Beacon school in September 1999 for an initial period of three years. Following a successful application to the then Department for Education and Skills, Beacon status was granted for a further three years with effect from September 2002. In 2004, Beacon schools came to an end nationally and Jack Hunt successfully applied to become a new Leading Edge School.
In September 2001 racial tensions escalated at the school following the racist murder of former pupil Ross Parker in the city shortly after the September 11th Attacks. Three Asian pupils were suspended in October 2001 following an attack on another pupil but the school and headmaster Chris Hilliard were later praised in Parliament for the way they managed to overcome such problems.
On 16 January 2012, the school received a hoax call stating that a bomb had been planted on the premises. Subsequently the entire school had to be evacuated. The pupils were left outside for hours, leading to numerous complaints from parents. In response, and as a token of apology, the head purchased a doughnut for every pupil.

Facilities

Jack Hunt Pool is an 82 feet dual-use facility, built on the premises but open to the general public. Jack Hunt is also home to Peterborough's Yamaha School. The school offers Keyboard, Guitar and Drumming to the community.
In 2019 Jack Hunt opened a new block with a new dining facility, new classrooms and an all-weather astro turf football pitch.

Notable former pupils