The school continued as a single-sex grammar school until 1972, when it was taken over as a maintained school by Derbyshire County Council, which converted it into a co-educational comprehensive school and greatly increased its size, in buildings and pupils. At this point, it was still Derby School. However, in 1989 the County Council decided to close Derby School and to make the headmaster redundant. A new school fully comprehensive and co-educational was created called Derby Moor Community School with a new head and governing body but with many of the old school's staff and students. Then for a period of time until 2017 it was known as Derby Moor Community Sports College Trust, was opened at the Moorway Lane site. In terms of legal identity, this was not the same school, but in some ways it was its successor. Changes in education in the early 21st century saw a further development in 2017 when the school on the site became the Derby Moor Academy.