Scalby School was granted Technology College status from September 2002. This has meant a major investment in the college and its facilities over the next few years: £100,000 for capital equipment and four annual grants of £126,000 starting in September 2002.

Sponsorship totalling £50,000 also had to be raised and the school has been supported by a large number of local companies, parents and friends, with Lord Derwent acting as President of the Sponsorship Committee. Supporters include Scarborough Building Society, McCain Foods, Raflatac, Transbus Plaxton and Sir Alan and Lady Ayckbourn.

As a result of its new status the school will focus on extending ICT throughout the campus and in particular developing ICT, technology, science and mathematics through innovative teaching and learning. To aid these developments a purpose-built ICT suite of four rooms has been built. The rooms have state-of-the-art equipment including interactive whiteboards, flat-screen monitors and the latest industry-standard software. Each room also has dedicated teachers’ stations with software that enables total control of the students’ PCs, facilitating enhanced teaching and learning.

Scalby School already has strong links with the local community and other schools and colleges in the area. A major part of its responsibilities as a Technology College will be to work with a family of schools, including feeder Primaries, St. Augustine’s RC School, Scarborough Sixth Form College and Yorkshire Coast College. There will also be increased opportunities for adults in the community to develop their skills in using the modern technologies.

More than 1,000 students from the north of Scarborough, Scalby and villages to the north and west of the town are currently taught at the school which became a comprehensive in 1973.

This is a tremendous boost for the school and indeed the local community. The extra funding which will become available should allow us to offer extended opportunities to all our students, but in particular ICT, design and technology, mathematics and science.

It means improved and extended computer facilities throughout the school including 30 laptops with radio links, specialist CADCAM equipment and dedicated software for science and mathematics.

The new way of working we plan to operate will also free up time for teachers in key subjects to develop more teaching and learning strategies. It will also offer us more opportunities for staff training and personal development and more contact with staff from other schools and colleges as well as local employers.

Following on from our very positive OFSTED inspection in 2000 we have set challenging targets so that Technology College status will see our students gaining even higher grades at GCSE and post 16 with all students gaining an ICT qualification. This will raise the standards of the local workforce and give a real boost to local businesses.