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 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. 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. Two co-acting heads, Ann Davis and Joanna Clark, assumed his post at Burnt Mill. In September 2009,
St Bonaventure's Deputy Head Helena Mills was appointed as Burnt Mill's headteacher designate, entering the post from January 2010. Ofsted would inspect the school again later that year. Although the school was still seen as satisfactory, Ofsted noted that the school was "improving rapidly, already has several good features and has good capacity to improve further." Ofsted accredited this to Helena Mills' new leadership strategy that promoted "
equality of opportunity". Under her leadership the school became an academy on 1 December 2011 and became outstanding in 2012 (the highest Ofsted grade). It was graded as outstanding in all four categories. In 2013, the school founded the Burnt Mill Academy Trust (BMAT) with Headteacher Helena Mills becoming CEO. From 2015 the headteacher was John Blaney. Blaney became the school's executive headteacher in 2017, appointing Deputy Head Laura McGlashan as the head of school from September. In 2019, the school's management was restructured. The headteacher role was restored from September, replacing the head of school role, and the executive headteacher position was abolished. The duties of the executive headteacher are now fulfilled by the BMAT CEO, making Helena Mills the de facto executive head. In 2021, the school was selected by the
DfE to join the School Rebuilding Programme as part of its second batch of schools. Schools involved in the programme will rebuild and refurbish their buildings over a period of 10 years, sharing a £500 million fund. Work at Burnt Mill is expected to begin in the summer of 2022 and finish by 2024. ==Inspection judgements==