Ullswater Community College

Ullswater Community College is a large mixed comprehensive school in Penrith, Cumbria. It currently has around 1450 students, including about 200 in the sixth form.The School was formed under the name of Ullswater High School in 1980, when Tynefield and Ullswater secondary modern schools merged. The school still has two sets of all facilities and there is still the 'mixed yard' in the middle of the school.This was a playground where boys and girls were allowed to 'mix' at breaks. The two main blocks of the school consist of the former schools, now renamed Cumberland block and Westmorland block, named after the historic counties Cumberland and Westmorland that became Cumbria in 1974. Along with Eamont Block for students with learning disabilities, Eden Block, Resources and Rural Science blocksThe character of the school comes from two main factors. The first is its enormous catchment area, the largest in England. The second is the existence of its neighbour and great rival, Queen Elizabeth Grammar School . QEGS is a selective school.Mr David Robinson served as headmaster until April 2004, then the school was led by Mr Stewart Gimber as the head teacher. Ullswater had a ‘good’ inspection in 2006, but in 2009, it was given an ‘notice to improve’ by Ofsted. In September 2009, Mr Nigel Pattinson took over the role as head teacher. Ullswater is a Business and Enterprise College, and has many links with the local community through enterprise projects. The school also has a large adult or further education centre.