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High Hopes A new Christian school set to open next September will do more for the regeneration of Doncaster than the proposed international airport, a businessman behind the venture told church leaders.

Record Results Record results in maths and science have been recorded at Thorne Grammar School.

Academy Tour Schools Minister Andrew Adonis has given his full backing and praise to Thorne and Moorends’ new academy following a visit to the school which opens in eight weeks.

State of Art Thorne's new £24 million Academy - to replace the town's Grammar School - is set to open its doors to staff and pupils this month. Finishing touches are this week being put to the new building, fronting Church Balk, which has taken fifteen months to build. The first intake of pupils, due to cross the threshold next Thursday, September 8, will enter a state-of-the-art facility which will specialise in business and enterprise.

Old Pals THREE centuries of education in Thorne were celebrated at a reunion which brought together old school friends from past decades in the town's newest place of learning.

Mixed Views Strict Discipline at the new Trinity Academy in Thorne has brought a string of complaints in recent weeks culminating in a public meeting.

£22m flagship school hit by exclusions row (29 Jan 06) A city academy is at loggerheads with parents after excluding record numbers of pupils under a controversial zero-tolerance discipline policy.

New academy suspends one in ten pupils - (10 Jan 06) Shocked parents to launch campaign against school's disciplinary policies after children sent home - ALMOST one in 10 pupils have been suspended from a new educational academy in the first term since it took over from a conventional state secondary school.

Parents rebel at 'Dickensian' school run by millionaire evangelist friend of Blair - (30 May 06) Backlash over emphasis on religion as suspensions soar in 'covert' selection

'Flagship' city academy defends fall in pass rate - (25 Aug 06) THE Government's flagship city academy policy faced fresh questions last night after it emerged the first one built in Yorkshire saw its GCSE pass rate drop yesterday compared with the "failing" school it replaced a year ago.

COMMENT

Those that live by the sword die by the sword, & likewise those whose main justification for allowing fundamentalist fanatics to take over state schools is higher exam results are left looking pretty stupid when the results then go down instead!

Would the Government be calling the comparison between results, “complete nonsense”, had the results gone up? Of course they wouldn’t! Instead they would be crowing & using it for justification for handing even more schools over to creationists.

How can you possibly have any respect for such hypocrites?

The fundamentalist takeover of Thorne Grammar School was sold on the back of constant references in press reports to Emmanuel College, Gateshead (another Vardy Foundation School) achieving 98% - 99% A to C grades in GCSEs. This was in spite of the fact that there were major differences between the two schools. Although it was never explicitly stated that Thorne Grammar School could achieve such results, it was nevertheless obvious that when comparing the results of the two schools that people were going to be influenced by Emmanuel College’s high figures.

Now, if you want a real example of, “complete nonsense”, you need look no further than that deception.

Incidentally, our local school just achieved its best GCSE results ever, up 20% on last year to 54%; all done with a bit of hard work & not a creationist or money wasting bureaucrat in sight.

ACADEMY OUTSHONE BY 'FAILING' SCHOOL THORNE'S fledgling academy has seen a drop in its GCSE pass rate compared to the 'failing' school it replaced.

Pupil sent home in haircut row (08 Sept 06) A TEENAGE boy has been banned from a controversial Christian-led city academy in Yorkshire because he had the wrong haircut.

Boy sent home because of Haircut (14 Sept 06) Transcript of BBC Look North report (18.30)

See also: Does academy follow rules? (19 Sept 06)

Fiddle' row over pupils (23 Sept 06) DONCASTER'S Trinity Academy is today at the centre of a call for a Government investigation over its exclusion figures. The school has been accused of skewing its figures by sending youngsters home - but not putting them through official suspension procedures.

Ex-head hits out over pupils leaving school(9 Feb 07) DOZENS of pupils have quit Doncaster's £20 million Trinity Academy since it took over from Thorne Grammar School, it has been revealed.

Aaron tees off for US golf scholarship (17 Aug 07) Trinity Academy replaced Thorne Grammar School, one of South Yorkshire's worst performing schools, in 2005 and yesterday's A-level results were the first to be delivered by students who had spent two full years in the new sixth form.

Academies show faster GCSE rise (26 Aug 06)One of the top performing academies was Trinity Academy, in Doncaster, which opened in 2005. It recorded a 30 per cent leap in good passes to 63 per cent, while doubling its maths and English measure to 40 per cent.

Amazing 'A' students top the lists of record results (30 Aug 07) Doncaster's first city academy led the way by almost doubling their overall pass rate. Students at Trinity Academy in Thorne, where the top performers were Martin Handley (6A*s, 3Bs, 1C) and Tanya Sullivan (6A*s, 4As, 1B), managed an overall pass rate of 63.2 per cent, compared to 33.94 per cent last year.

'Beacon of excellence' hits back at its critics (13 Sept 07) A DONCASTER school has been singled out as a "beacon of excellence" by a Government minister for being the most improved City Academy in Britain.