The History of Great Bowden Academy 

 There is evidence that teaching and learning has been happening in Great Bowden for many centuries.  At the beginning of the nineteenth century there was a thriving Sunday school which also taught its students some literacy skills as well at least one Dame school.  Many of the large privately owned houses also employed tutors for their children. 

In the 1970s the building was bursting at the seams and the village hall, just over the road, was used as a classroom by the oldest children in the school.  As the number of children in school continued to grow, a new school building in a dedicated site on Gunnsbrooke Close was planned and built, opening to pupils in 1983.  This new building was a huge upgrade to the original school’s facilities.  It had a large playing field and playground, a hall for PE and dining and inside toilets!  There was a single open plan classroom area and teachers spoke of moving furniture around to change the relative sizes of the spaces for different age groups of children, depending on the learning activities being planned for the day. 

The original school building, now owned by the Church and used as a church hall, is still a place of education.  The large majority of the children attending Great Bowden Academy attend the village pre-school which is held in the former school building. 

In recent years the school site has continued to develop with the most recent building work being completed in 2013.  The school now has over double the number of pupils that it did in the 1980s.  The building now has 6 classroom areas, one of them a mobile classroom, a library, music room, extended hall, new catering kitchens and covered outdoor learning areas for most of the classrooms.   There is also a forest school area, a pond and a kitchen garden outside. 

In 2015 Great Bowden Academy became part of Learn Academies Trust.  A former Great Bowden head teacher, Stef Edwards, is currently Trust Lead.  In 2017, the school became linked with Ridgeway Primary Academy, just up the hill in Market Harborough, when an executive Head teacher was appointed over both schools.  Great Bowden Academy is also part of a Teaching School, training new colleagues in association with the University of Leicester.  Some of its staff also work across other schools, supporting other colleagues in introducing research informed practice into their schools. 

For nearly 200 years the village school has been a central part of the village community and the school’s ambition is to continue its work of making Great Bowden Academy great!