With the current number of students around the 2100 mark it puts John Port as the largest secondary school in Derbyshire, and one of the largest nationally. The current head-teacher is Karen Squire. John Port is a mixed gender school, with the student age range between 11 and 18, and with the 6th Form taking students from the ages of 16 to 18. There are approximately 141 full-time and temporary members of the teaching staff.
History
The school is on the site of a demolished country manor, Etwall Hall, Etwall, situated just outside Derby, traditionally of the Port family who were the wealthy landowners/farmers of the parish. In 1952, the Derbyshire County Council bought Etwall Hall from Reg Parnell, the famous racing car driver. The hall had been used during the Second World War by the Army, first as a petrol depot and later as an equipment supply centre and been left in a somewhat dilapidated state. After its demolition a secondary modern, Etwall Secondary School, and a secondary grammar school, John Port Grammar School, were built on the site. In 1965 they were amalgamated to form the John Port School that occupies the site today. The name of the Port family, who lived at the hall, has been associated with Etwall since the 15th century. The family's most famous son, Sir John Port, was the founder of the nearby Repton School and committed to the furthering of education for young men in the village. It therefore seemed entirely appropriate that the new school was named after him.
School site
The large site has an open feel, being a 'green' campus with plenty of open spaces between the individual teaching facilities. The centre of the site is focussed around the lake, one of the original fishing ponds that were in the grounds of the Etwall Hall. Teaching facilities are spread across the site, with each faculty having a separate building. The buildings are mostly named after settlements and features in Derbyshire and the Peak District, with the exceptions to this being Flamsteed, named after a famous local scientist John Flamsteed, and the Jubilee Centre, named to commemorate the Diamond Jubilee of Queen Elizabeth II. The Learning Resources Centre is situated centrally on the site, occupying most of the ground floor of 'B' block. The site is also home to the Etwall Leisure Centre, with public access from Hilton Road. This new centre was officially opened on 17 July 2009, although it didn't open to the public till 5 August 2009. The new facilities include a six-lane 25 m swimming pool, squash courts, fitness suite and large sports hall.
School performance
The school was most recently graded as "Inadequate" by Ofsted in all aspects of the school in a June 2017 inspection report. Numerous failures of the school's leadership were criticised, in particular student safeguarding and welfare, academic performance, the behaviour and moral guidance of students, quality of teaching, sixth form education and lacklustre leadership, causing the then Headmaster Chris Sainsbury to resign after having been suspended. It has been placed under "special measures" by Ofsted as a result, and the school has not been inspected since.
