Open Evening 9th October 2008

Open evening for prospective new students and their parents.

On Thursday 9th October, over 400 prospective parents and pupils attended Lord Lawson’s Open Evening.  Parents and pupils were addressed in two groups by Headteacher, David Grigg, in the main hall.  They were then escorted around school to see the superb resources offered by this brand new, purpose built school.

All subject departments and House Blocks organised activities and demonstrations using the school’s new technologies, recently installed at a cost of £2.2 million.  The school, which was described as ‘Outstanding’ by Ofsted at its last inspection, boasts over 100 teaching spaces, including science and ICT laboratories, technology and art areas, dance and drama studios, audio visual areas and student support bases, including a fully staffed Health Unit.  This year, new sports facilities have been opened including a gymnasium, sports hall and fitness centre, with an outdoor multi-use games area and Astroturf pitch, both benefitting from floodlighting.

 

The school was recently awarded High Performing School status by the government and has become a centre of excellence for applied learning.  It has teaching areas for plumbing and electrical work as well as a hairdressing salon where many parents made appointments!

 

Feedback from parents and their youngsters was very positive with the only worry that parents expressed being whether or not places would be available to all who applied.  David Grigg was able to reassure parents that a dramatic drop in the numbers of young people in Gateshead means that it is highly likely that all who apply will be offered places.

 

Lord Lawson of Beamish is one of the most popular schools in the region.  Last year, 268 students were admitted into year 7 from 32 different primary schools in Gateshead, Sunderland and Durham.  We now have 1,527 students including 270 in the sixth form.

 

Can I take this opportunity to thank everyone who attended the open evening.  We trust that you enjoyed the event and that you had every opportunity to see all that you wanted and that all of your questions were answered

 

We look forward to meeting you all again soon.