Burnt Mill Academy (formerly known de facto as Burnt Mill School) is a secondary school academy and specialist performing arts college situated on First Avenue in Harlow, Essex, England. The school originally opened in May 1962 as Burnt Mill Comprehensive School, de jure keeping this name until academisation in 2011. In 2003, it became a specialist performing arts college, specialising in dance, drama and music. It joined the Confucius institute programme in 2007, partnering with Suzhou Lida Middle School in Jiangsu, China. This granted the school an International School Award. It gained academy status in 2011 and formed the Burnt Mill Academy Trust (BMAT) in 2013. BMAT has since become a multi-academy trust, with 12 member schools as of 2021.
At Burnt Mill's most recent Ofsted inspection, in November 2012, the school received outstanding grades in all categories. The school is the founding and leading school of the Burnt Mill Academy Trust, with the CEO being Helena Mills, the school's former headteacher. The trust was praised in 2016 by Prime Minister David Cameron as an example of the success of the academies programme, being used for the programme's defence when challenged by opposition leader Jeremy Corbyn during Prime Minister's Questions. The band Swim Deep recorded the music video for their song Grand Affection at the school, which featured the school's GCSE drama students.
History
The construction of Burnt Mill Comprehensive School began in 1958 in order to serve the post-war new town of Harlow. The school opened in May 1962 and was originally housed in the site of nearby Passmores School, moving to its own site in September later that year. Originally the school served 169 children and was headed by Ray Stirling. The motto was Adventure In Faith. In 1963, the school opened an evening institute that provided sixth form education. This would be extended into the day as a normal sixth form in 1966. In 1969, the school experienced multiple expansions concerning its buildings and also provided disability units for pupils suffering from partial hearing loss. In 1974, Headteacher Ray Stirling left the school, being replaced by Ronald Wallis in 1975. In 1985, the school's sixth form was discontinued after the county council forced all schools in Harlow to end sixth form provision. Further education was hereafter provided exclusively by the town's tertiary college. A year later, Headteacher Ronald Wallis retired and was succeeded by Anthony Ward. Burnt Mill Comprehensive School would over the years become widely known as Burnt Mill School. This name was even used by the school itself with "Burnt Mill Comprehensive School" falling into disuse. Despite this, the school's legal name until academisation was always Burnt Mill Comprehensive School.
By 2000, the school held community status and had a student body of 970. The headteacher was still Anthony Ward and it was graded as "satisfactory" by Ofsted. The school's partial hearing loss disability units introduced in 1969 were still present and were praised by Ofsted as being "well resourced and effective." Ward left in 2001, being replaced by Silvia Jones. In 2003, the school was designated as a specialist performing arts college under the specialist schools programme. Silvia Jones was succeeded as headteacher in April 2005 by Stephen Chamberlain and in December the school was graded as inadequate by Ofsted. Ofsted mostly criticised the low GCSE results in English, maths and science, stressing that only one in five students achieved a C or above. A C grade in all three subjects was the minimum requirement for employment and entry into college at the time. In 2007, the school recovered and was graded as satisfactory. Later that year, the school would enter the Confucius institute programme, forming a partnership with the Suzhou Lida Middle School in China. The UK government would award Burnt Mill with an International School Award as a result. Headteacher Stephen Chamberlain left Burnt Mill in the summer of 2009, taking up the post of executive principal at the new Clacton Coastal Academy. Two co-acting heads, Ann Davis and Joanna Clark, assumed his post at Burnt Mill.