# St Lawrence Academy, Scunthorpe

The St Lawrence Academy (formerly High Ridge School) is a coeducational Church of England secondary school with academy status, in Scunthorpe, West Lincolnshire, England. The Academy teaches GCSEs and BTECs, and has specialisms in sports and science.

## History
### Grammar school

Scunthorpe Grammar School opened in 1927.
A 34 year old senior English teacher, Mr Caine, killed himself, possibly accidentally, on 7 July 1964, being found by policeman James Martin.
32 year old history teacher Geoffrey Stevenson was the Liberal candidate for Gainsborough in the 1966 general election, gaining around 6,000 votes.
It became a comprehensive, as High Ridge School, in 1968 when the Scunthorpe division of Lindsey turned comprehensive. The school lost its sixth form in 1968.

### Comprehensive

In August 1971 ten swimmers from the comprehensive school attempted a relay crossing of the English Channel.
Technical staff, who were educated at the former Scunthorpe Grammar school, were killed in the notorious Flixborough explosion in June 1974, such as 27 year old Michael Skelton.
A community school administered by North Lincolnshire Council, High Ridge School converted to academy status on 1 September 2008 and was renamed The St Lawrence Academy. The school is sponsored by the Church of England Diocese of Lincoln.
In 2011 demolition of the old building began and construction started as part of the Building Schools for the Future programme. The new building was built by May Gurney and was completed in October 2013. The old hall is refurbished but still remains.

## Headteachers
### Scunthorpe Grammar School

* John McIver from c. 1950 to 1968

### High Ridge School

* Gerald Derek Fish, until around 1984, he lived at Scotter, and he taught at Westcliffe Secondary Modern School in the 1950s
* Mrs Ann Marsh-Edwards, from November 1984; in March 1996 she was diagnosed with ovarian cancer and died aged 53 on 15 November 1997
* Eric Barker, from March 1996, the former deputy head, he retired at the end of May 1998 after 30 years at the school
* Karen Parsonage, from September 1998 until July 2008, the former deputy head, and a squash player, from Scotter and an English teacher, she had previously taught at the Havelock Comprehensive in Grimsby

## Notable alumni
### High Ridge School

* Graham Beale CBE, Chief Executive from 2007-15 of the Nationwide Building Society (attended the John Leggott College), from 1970-75
* Neil Cox, former Premier League footballer

### Scunthorpe Grammar School

* Roy Axe, car designer with Chrysler Europe in the 1970s, designing the Talbot Horizon and Alpine, later working for Austin Rover Group in the late 1980s
* Prof Gordon Dougan FRS, Head of Pathogen Research at the Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute in Cambridgeshire
* Stephen Edmundson (born 1950), senior cardiac surgeon at Barts Health NHS Trust, and the National Heart Hospital, and the last head boy of the grammar school; he played for England youth football team
* Ric Parker CBE FREng, Director of Research and Technology from 2001–16 at Rolls-Royce (at High Ridge from 1968)
* John Peck (politician), can be seen in the film Saturday Night and Sunday Morning, who belonged to the Communist Party of Great Britain (CPGB)
* David Plowright, CBE, television producer, younger brother of Joan, Controller of Programmes from 1969–79 at Granada Television (which helped his brother-in-law)
* Dame Joan Plowright, actress, married to Laurence Olivier from 1961 to his death in July 1989
* Major-General Dennis Shaw CB CBE, Head from 1975-78 of the Commando Logistic Regiment
* Graham Taylor OBE, former manager from 1990-93 of England
* Michael Tomlinson (engineer) FICE FIStructE, Chairman from 1969-71 of the British Geotechnical Association, who researched soil mechanics, groundwater control and design of piles who lived at Burton upon Stather
* Allen Wade, Notts County footballer, PE lecturer at Loughborough University, until 1962, then technical director of the FA from 1962 to 1982, when aged 36
* Prof Stephen Westaby FRCS, Senior Cardiac Surgeon since 1986 at the John Radcliffe Hospital, and Professor of Biomedical Sciences since 2006 at the University of Wales