Parkside Community College is a secondary academy school with 600 places for children aged 11–16, situated in Cambridge, Cambridgeshire. It is part of the United Learning Cambridge Cluster,[1] along with Parkside Sixth, Coleridge Community College, Trumpington Community College, and Cambridge Academy for Science and Technology (formerly UTC Cambridge). Cambridge Academic Partnership joined the United Learning group of academies as a unit in September 2019. It is located next to the main Cambridge Parkside Police Station, the main Cambridge Fire Station and the National Express coach stops. It is east of Emmanuel College, Cambridge.
| Parkside Community College | |
|---|---|
| Address | |
 | |
, , CB1 1EH England | |
| Coordinates | 52°12′16″N 0°07′43″E / 52.20441°N 0.12851°E |
| Information | |
| Type | Academy |
| Established | 1913 |
| Specialist | Media Arts College |
| Department for Education URN | 136636 Tables |
| Ofsted | Reports |
| Chair | Mark Carrington |
| Head teacher | Dee Wallace |
| Gender | Coeducational |
| Age | 11 to 19 |
| Enrollment | 600 |
| Trust | Cambridge Academic Partnership |
| Website | parkside |
From 1960 to 1974 it was the Cambridge Grammar School for Girls, after which it became the co-educational comprehensive Parkside Community College. It was the first school in the UK to be designated a Media Arts College under the UK government's specialist schools programme, in 1997,[2] and was granted Foundation status in 2003.[3]
In 2005 Parkside Community College formed the Parkside Federation with Coleridge Community College, which had then been placed in special measures. The school achieved Academy status in 2011 when the federation converted to a multi-academy trust.[4] At the same time it opened a new sixth-form college, Parkside Sixth. In 2017 the trust changed its name to the Cambridge Academic Partnership.[5] The Cambridge Academic Partnership would later go on to change its name to the United Learning Cambridge Cluster.
The history of the school is related in An Epoch-Making School, by former Deputy Principal Rosemary Gardiner (1983).
Research work
editIts work as a specialist media arts college has been documented in a number of research studies by staff at the school. These include studies of an extensive primary school animation project (e.g. Burn and Parker, 2001), run in conjunction with the Cambridge Film Consortium, a group composed of Anglia Ruskin University, City Screen (an Arts cinema chain), the Cambridge Film Festival, and Parkside itself.
A comprehensive account of the school's media work, giving examples of work in digital video, computer games, animation, and television drama, as well as work across the curriculum, is provided in Andrew Burn and James Durran's Media Literacy in Schools (2007).
On 1 December 2008, the Nova 9 helium balloon took two space-suited teddies close to the edge of space from the grounds of Churchill College, Cambridge. The space suits were designed by 11- to 13-year-olds at the school. The journey took just over two hours. The teddies descended back to Earth and landed near Ipswich, being located by GPS equipment.
Academic performance
editParkside Community College achieves GCSE results that are consistently among the best for state schools in Cambridgeshire.[6][7]
Notable alumni
edit- Cavetown, musician and YouTuber[8]
- Patrick O'Flynn, UK Independence Party MEP
- Ben Thapa, opera singer[9]
- Ronald Searle, Cartoonist
The author Nick Hornby was an English teacher at the school between 1982 and 1984.[10]
The UCL English professor and media theorist Andrew Burn (professor) taught English, Media and Drama at the school from 1986 to 2001.
References
edit- Burn A & Parker D (2001), ‘Making your Mark: Digital Inscription, Animation, and a New Visual Semiotic’, Education, Communication & Information, Vol. 1, No. 2, pp 155–179 (and online at http://www.open.ac.uk/eci/burn/featset.html[permanent dead link])
- Burn, A and Durran, J (2007) Media Literacy in Schools: practice, production and progression. London: Paul Chapman
- Gardiner, R (1983) An Epoch-Making School, Parkside Community College: Cambridge
- ^ "United Learning Cambridge Cluster". cap.education. Retrieved 17 March 2022.
- ^ Media Literacy in Schools: Practice, Production and Progression; Andrew Burn & James Durran, 2007
- ^ "City of Cambridge Education Foundation". Retrieved 24 February 2016.
- ^ "EDP: Seven secondary schools achieve academy status". Retrieved 24 February 2016.[permanent dead link]
- ^ "Cambridge Academic Partnership | Multi-Academy Trust".
- ^ "The top schools in Cambridgeshire according to GCSE League tables". 16 October 2018.
- ^ "Parkside Community College - GOV.UK".
- ^ "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 19 January 2019. Retrieved 3 February 2020.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link) - ^ "G4 sing way to semi finals". Archived from the original on 14 December 2013. Retrieved 14 December 2013.
- ^ Snead, Florence. "Cambridge school Parkside Community College welcomes writer Nick Hornby for Q&A session"[permanent dead link], Cambridge News, Cambridge, 14 November 2014. Retrieved 21 May 2016.
External links
edit- Parkside Federation Archived 26 December 2012 at the Wayback Machine
- Cambridgeshire County Council Admissions website
- City of Cambridge Education Foundation
- EduBase[permanent dead link]
News items
edit- Independent July 2010
- Teddy-nauts in December 2008
- Cuddly cosmonauts in December 2008
- Visit to the Arctic in July 2007
- Use of technology wins award in August 2005