The local area is historically a coal-mining area in the Mansfield district, with the closed Welbeck Colliery, one of Nottinghamshire's last surviving pits, nearby at Meden Vale. The school is next to the main A60 road and near the River Meden, with the Meden Sports Centre, which has a small swimming pool, integral to the site. The school opened as the Meden Comprehensive School on 7 September 1965. The official opening took place on 8 June 1966 attended by the Secretary to the Council for Education in World Citizenship. The £253,000 building was built to withstand mining subsidence and had around 600 pupils. The school gained Technology specialist status in 2001 and was placed into special measures during 2011, becoming an academy under the auspices of the Torch Academy Gateway Trust in 2012. The school had 860 pupils in 2014. The school is currently undergoing a £1.5 million refurbishment to its infrastructure.
Admissions
The school is led by Mr J Smith, Head of School and successor to Emma Sims. The Nova Education Trust, which Meden is a member of, is led Mr John Tomasevic – Executive Headteacher. Each of the schools year has a head of year.These are: Year 7: M Hamer Year 8: C Wild Year 9: K Hickinbotham Year 10: T Taplin Year 11 : F Garlick The school's college is led by Mrs Louisa Brett and has well-subscribed year twelve and thirteen cohorts. Meden College provides each student has the use of a 'tablet' PC to help with studies. The college facilities have wireless access and a suite of computers. The school was placed in special measures by OfSTED in 2010. Since being taken over by the Torch Academy Gateway Trust, Meden has become one of the most improved school in the country, and in May 2012 was taken out of special measures due to the significant improvements that the school had made since being under new leadership. In 2012 the school secured the following results for key stage four pupils; Key Stage Four Academic Performance 5+ A*-C GCSEs = 6.7% 5+ A*-C GCSEs = 860% 3+ A*-A = 310% Key Stage Five Academic Performance A2 Level – 100% Pass. UCAS Performance – Double the acceptance ratio for Medicine and related courses, compared to the National Average – Double the acceptance ratio for Humanities and the Arts related courses, compared to the National Average. – 10% higher acceptance rate compared to National average for Biological Science courses. – 20% higher acceptance rate compared to National average for Maths and Maths related courses. – Higher than the National Average acceptance rates for Education, Engineering and Science related courses.
