Arnold Hill Comprehensive School
| Established | 18 December 1959 |
|---|---|
| Headteacher | Matt Robertson |
| Location |
Gedling Road Arnold Nottinghamshire NG5 6NZ England Coordinates: 52°59′50″N 1°07′00″W / 52.9972°N 1.1168°W |
| DfE number | 891/4091 |
| DfE URN | 137536 Tables |
| Ofsted | Reports Pre-academy reports |
| Gender | Coeducational |
| Ages | 11–18 |
| Colours | Green |
| Website | School homepage |
Arnold Hill Academy is a mixed secondary school and sixth form located in the county of Nottinghamshire in the East Midlands. It teaches children from 11 to 18 - Years 7-13. It is located in Arnold but it serves children from various nearby areas including Killisick, Daybrook, Woodthorpe, Mapperley, Carlton, Sherwood and many other area's of the County. It is split into two sites ("Main School" and "Lower School") and has around 1800 pupils and over 100 teachers. It is one of the largest comprehensive schools in Nottinghamshire.
The original designation was the Arnold County High School, which was opened in 1959 as a grammar school. Pupils came from about a ten-mile (16 km) radius and at that time, the county was in an extensive school building programme, to cope with the post-war baby boom. The lack of university places also limited the number of pupils able to progress to a university education.
Third year pupils from Arnold Girls Secondary School and Robert Mellors secondary School in Arnold in 1975 heralded the schools new Comprehensive status.
Initially, on the 45-acre (180,000 m2) site, there was a lower school for first and second year pupils (formerly the girls secondary modern school building), the first batch of 120 third year pupils moved straight into the middle school, which consisted of 6 classrooms, six large house rooms, used for dining and house activities, and between them, three kitchens.
Early PE teachers, as they were known, soon established the school as one with strong sporting credentials, yet allowed those of a lesser physical stature, not suited to rugby, for example, to develop an interest in badminton.
The first headmaster was Dr J H Higginson, who wrote a book on the establishment of the school, entitled A School Is Born, ( - published 1987) which covered many aspects of the school. The first deputy head was W T N Thompson. Several of the younger initial teaching staff remained for many years. Thompson was known as "Bill Dynamite" and well known for beating students with sports shoes.
The school operated a house system where the 'names' were then living international identities - clockwise around the three sided middle school, these were:
Gladys Aylward, Ryder-Cheshire (Leonard Cheshire and Sue Ryder), Pandit - Anton Makarenko, Eleanor Roosevelt and Albert Schweitzer. Pupils were encouraged to forge links with the countries represented by those houses.
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