Parkside Community College: Difference between revisions

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{{Use British English|date=February 2023}}

'''Parkside Community College''' is a [[state school|state]] [[secondary school]] with 600 places for children aged 11 - 16, situated in [[Cambridge]], Cambridgeshire, [[England]]. The College is situated in the centre of the city, a road away from [[Parker's Piece]]. It is now a member of the Parkside Federation along with [[Coleridge Community College]]. Parkside was the first school to be designated a specialist media arts college in 1997, under the UK government's specialist schools programme.

{{Use dmy dates|date=May 2018}}

{{Infobox school

| name = Parkside Community College

| coordinates = {{coord|52.20441|0.12851|type:edu_region:GB_dim:100|format=dms|display=inline,title}}

| established = {{start date and age|1913}}

| type = [[Academy (English school)|Academy]]

| head = Dee Wallace

| chair = Mark Carrington

| address = [[Parkside, Cambridge|Parkside]]

| city = [[Cambridge]]

| county = [[Cambridgeshire]]

| country = England

| postcode = CB1 1EH

| specialist = [[Media Arts College]]

| urn = 136636

| ofsted = yes

| staff =

| enrollment = 600

| gender = [[Mixed-sex education|Coeducational]]

| lower_age = 11

| upper_age = 19

| free_label_1 = Trust

| free_1 = Cambridge Academic Partnership

| website = {{URL|https://parkside.education}}

}}

'''Parkside Community College''' is a secondary [[Academy (English school)|academy school]] with 600 places for children aged 11–16, situated in [[Cambridge]], Cambridgeshire. It is part of the United Learning Cambridge Cluster,<ref>{{Cite web |title=United Learning Cambridge Cluster |url=https://cap.education/ |access-date=2022-03-17 |website=cap.education}}</ref> 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.

The long history of the school is related in ''An Epoch-Making School'', by former Deputy Principal Rosemary Gardiner (1983), which presents the transformations of the school from its origin as the Higher Grade Schools in Melbourne Place (1913), through its successive incarnations as the Central School for Boys and Girls and the Girls’ Grammar School, to its status as a co-educational comprehensive in 1974.

It is located next to the main Cambridge Parkside Police Station, the main Cambridge Fire Station and the [[National Express Coaches|National Express]] coach stops. It is east of [[Emmanuel College, Cambridge]].

From 1960 to 1974 it was the ''Cambridge Grammar School for Girls'', after which it became the co-educational [[comprehensive school|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,<ref>Media Literacy in Schools: Practice, Production and Progression; Andrew Burn & James Durran, 2007</ref> and was granted [[Foundation school|Foundation]] status in 2003.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://ccef.org.uk/|title=City of Cambridge Education Foundation|access-date=24 February 2016}}</ref>

Its 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 (eg 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.

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 (English school)|Academy]] status in 2011 when the federation converted to a multi-academy trust.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.edp24.co.uk/news/education/seven_secondary_schools_achieve_academy_status_1_993121|title=EDP: Seven secondary schools achieve academy status|access-date=24 February 2016}}{{dead link|date=March 2018 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref> At the same time it opened a new sixth-form college, Parkside Sixth, which closed in 2025. In 2017 the trust changed its name to the Cambridge Academic Partnership.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://cap.education/multi-academy-trust/|title=Cambridge Academic Partnership &#124; Multi-Academy Trust}}</ref> The Cambridge Academic Partnership would later go on to change its name to the United Learning Cambridge Cluster.

The most recent and 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 Burn and Durran’s ''Media Literacy in Schools'' (2007).

The history of the school is related in ''An Epoch-Making School'', by former Deputy Principal Rosemary Gardiner (1983).

The school is now federated with Coleridge Community College under Principal Andrew Hutchinson, and has developed a second specialism in Modern Foreign Languages.

==Research work==

Despite being a foundation school, Parkside has almost identical admission arrangements to the community schools within Cambridge. Any parent can apply for a place, with priority going to children who are in public care, then to those living in the designated catchment area, then to those with older siblings at the school and finally to those living nearest the school. Full details of the oversubscription criteria and the application process can be obtained from the College or from Cambridgeshire County Council's Admissions Team.

[[Image:Teddies in Space.jpg|thumb|right|Teddies in Space – taken in [[near space]] at 30,000m (19 miles – the edge of space is 66 miles): a project with [[CU Spaceflight|Cambridge University Spaceflight]] ]]

Its work as a [[Specialist school|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 (ege.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.

The most recent andA comprehensive account of the school’sschool'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 (professor)|Andrew Burn]] and Durran’sJames 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 [[Global Positioning System|GPS]] equipment.

'''References'''

==Academic performance==

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)

[[File:Parkside looking towards the swimming pool - geograph.org.uk - 176952.jpg|thumb|Parkside looking towards the swimming pool - geograph.org.uk]]

Parkside Community College achieves GCSE results that are consistently among the best for state schools in Cambridgeshire.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.cambridge-news.co.uk/news/cambridge-news/best-schools-cambridgeshire-gcse-results-14201656|title=The top schools in Cambridgeshire according to GCSE League tables|date=16 October 2018}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.compare-school-performance.service.gov.uk/school/136636/parkside-community-college|title = Parkside Community College - GOV.UK}}</ref>

==Notable alumni==

Burn, A and Durran, J (2007) ''Media Literacy in Schools: practice, production and progression''. London: Paul Chapman

*[[Cavetown (musician)|Cavetown]], musician and YouTuber<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.cavetown.co.uk/cv |title=Cavetown |access-date=3 February 2020 |archive-date=19 January 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190119025817/https://www.cavetown.co.uk/cv |url-status=dead }}</ref>

*[[Patrick O'Flynn]], [[UK Independence Party]] MEP

*[[Ben Thapa]], opera singer<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.cambridge-news.co.uk/Cambridge/G4-sing-way-to-semi-finals.htm |title=G4 sing way to semi finals |access-date=14 December 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131214145035/http://www.cambridge-news.co.uk/Cambridge/G4-sing-way-to-semi-finals.htm |archive-date=14 December 2013 |url-status = dead|df=dmy-all }}</ref>

*[[Ronald Searle]], Cartoonist

The author [[Nick Hornby]] was an English teacher at the school between 1982 and 1984.<ref>Snead, Florence. [http://www.cambridge-news.co.uk/Cambridge-school-Parkside-Community-College/story-24529112-detail/story.html "Cambridge school Parkside Community College welcomes writer Nick Hornby for Q&A session"]{{Dead link|date=September 2018 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}, ''[[Cambridge News]]'', Cambridge, 14 November 2014. Retrieved 21 May 2016.</ref>

Gardiner, R (1983) ''An Epoch-Making School'', Parkside Community College: Cambridge

The UCL English professor and media theorist [[Andrew Burn (professor)]] taught English, Media and Drama at the school from 1986 to 2001.

==External LinksReferences==

* Burn A & Parker D (2001), ‘Making your Mark: Digital Inscription, Animation, and a New Visual Semiotic’, ''Education, Communication & Information'', Vol. 1, No. 2, pp 155-179155–179 (and online at http://www.open.ac.uk/eci/burn/featset.html{{Dead link|date=September 2018 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }})

http://www.parksidefederation.org.uk (The Parkside Federation Official Website)

* 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

{{reflist}}

==External links==

http://www.cambridgeshire.gov.uk/admissions (Cambridgeshire County Council Admissions Website)

* [http://www.parksidefederation.org.uk/ Parkside Federation] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121226160216/http://www.parksidefederation.org.uk/ |date=26 December 2012 }}

* [http://www.cambridgeshire.gov.uk/admissions (Cambridgeshire County Council Admissions Website)website]

* [http://www.ccef.org.uk City of Cambridge Education Foundation]

* [http://www.edubase.gov.uk/establishment/summary.xhtml?urn=110864 EduBase]{{dead link|date=December 2017 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}

===News items===

http://www.parksidefederation.org.uk/parkside_media/Publications.htm (Publications on Parkside's extensive Media programme)

* [https://www.independent.co.uk/news/education/schools/the-appliance-of-real-science-should-all-children-take-the-igcse-2026801.html ''Independent'' July 2010]

* [http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/7767376.stm Teddy-nauts in December 2008]

* [https://www.bbc.co.uk/cambridgeshire/content/articles/2008/12/05/teddy_astronauts_feature.shtml Cuddly cosmonauts in December 2008]

* [https://www.bbc.co.uk/cambridgeshire/content/articles/2007/07/20/artic_girls_parkside_feature.shtml Visit to the Arctic in July 2007]

* [http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/cambridgeshire/4173488.stm Use of technology wins award in August 2005]

===Audio clips===

[[Category:Comprehensive schools in England]]

* [http://news.bbc.co.uk/today/hi/today/newsid_8435000/8435794.stm ''Today'' programme December 2009]

[[Category:Schools in Cambridgeshire]]

===Video clips===

* [https://www.youtube.com/user/jdurran Parkside Media]

{{Schools in Cambridgeshire}}

{{United Learning schools}}

{{authority control}}

[[Category:Schools in Cambridge]]

[[Category:Educational institutions established in 1913]]

[[Category:ComprehensiveSecondary schools in EnglandCambridgeshire]]

[[Category:1913 establishments in England]]

[[Category:SchoolsAcademies in Cambridgeshire]]

[[Category:United Learning schools]]