King Alfred's Academy

Last updated

King Alfred's
KAAcademylogo.png
King Alfred's School - geograph-2577522-by-Bill-Nicholls.jpg
King Alfred's Centre Site
Location
King Alfred's Academy
Wantage
,
Oxfordshire
,
OX12 9BY

England
Coordinates 51°35′12″N1°25′46″W / 51.5866°N 1.4294°W / 51.5866; -1.4294
Information
Type Academy
MottoAchieving Excellence Together[ citation needed ]
Local authorityOxfordshire
SpecialistSports
Department for Education URN 137140 Tables
Ofsted Reports
HeadteacherJonathan Smart
Gender Co-educational
Age11to 18
Enrolment1,805
HousesRidgeway, Vale, White Horse
Colour(s)Sky blue, navy blue and black (Ridgeway=Red, Vale=Blue, White Horse=Yellow)
Website www.kaacademy.org

King Alfred's Academy is a Secondary school in Wantage, Oxfordshire, recognised as an Academy. [1] It is named after King Alfred the Great, who ruled Wessex from 871 to 899 and was born in Wantage in 849 AD. The school has approximately 140 teachers and 1,800 students spread across two sites.

Contents

History

The earliest phase of the school was created by letters patent of Queen Elizabeth I in 1597(426 years ago). [2] Properties given for charitable purposes in the reigns of Henry VI and Henry VII were applied for the relief of the poor, road maintenance and the funding of a schoolmaster to teach grammar. The original school was built in the churchyard moving to a new site in 1849. [2]

The school amalgamated with Icknield (now East Site) and Segsbury (now West Site) during the 1980s.

The three schools (Segsbury Secondary Modern, Icknield Comprehensive and King Alfred's Grammar School) were broadly independent from each other, with some links from 1972. They merged to become Wantage School (Segsbury, Icknield, and King Alfred's Halls) for the 1984/5 academic term. For the 1987/8 term and beyond, the whole entity was renamed King Alfred's School to retain the former's history.[ clarification needed ]

The Sixth Form was built in the late 1970s next door to Centre Site.

The School became a Specialist Sports College in the late 1990s. For most of the 2000s the school was known as King Alfred's Community and Sports College.

In September 2011 King Alfred's was designated an Academy and retained sports college status. [3]

On 25 April 2014 King Alfred's was visited by Prince Edward, Earl of Wessex and his wife Sophie, Countess of Wessex to open the new hall block at Centre Site. [4]

Alumni include: computer scientist Professor Dave Cliff; spy novelist John Gardner; actor/author Stephen North; jockey Lester Piggott; neuroscientist Professor Anil Seth; Anna Yearley OBE, Executive Director of human-rights nonprofit Reprieve; Erin Kennedy MBE, paralympic coxswain; Christopher Ricks literary critic and scholar and Thomas Skurray managing director of Morlands (1890 - 1938).

Sites

The school is distributed over two sites, corresponding to the age groups catered for.

East Site

East Site, formerly Icknield School, catered for Year 7 and Year 8 students. In 2012, £661,000 was spent on improvements to the facilities including new classroom a new science lab, new music rooms and a new fitness suite. In all, East Site had more than 25 classrooms, including 4 science labs, 4 ICT rooms, a drama studio, a tennis court, a netball court, a library and 5 rooms devoted to design and technology.

On 13 April 2016, the academy was granted planning permission by the local district council to demolish East Site and to build 150 new homes on the site whereby the academy plans on selling the site to Bovis Homes (now Vistry Homes). Doing this enables the academy to move to two site operation whereby the money raised from selling East Site will enable to academy to expand and refurbish West Site, Centre Site and the Sixth Form. The site was finally closed in 2017 as the three sites were condensed into two, and the school buildings have since been demolished. [5]

West Site

West Site, formerly Segsbury School, is the site attended by approximately 620 Year 7 and Year 8 students. It has more than 20 classrooms including 6 science labs, 3 ICT rooms, a dance/drama studio, newly refurbished kitchen and sports hall. It does have a library. After the closure of East Site, many of the newly developed buildings from 2012 were moved to West Site and are now used as the humanities department. As another part of the refurbishment the main office was moved, the canteen and the toilets improved. Along with the repainting of the English classrooms and corridors.

Centre Site and Sixth Form

Centre Site, formerly King Alfred's School, is the site attended by Year 9 students, Year 10 students and Year 11 students - those in the last year of Compulsory education in Great Britain. It has more than 55 classrooms, 16 of which are situated in a four storey block, which includes science labs and ICT rooms. There is also a Macbook suite. It has no onsite sports facilities, but is able to make use of the local leisure centre, which was built on the site of the former school playing fields.

The Sixth Form, used by students aged between 16 and 18, and located across the road from Centre Site, was opened in the 1970s. It also makes use both of the Centre Site facilities and those of the local leisure centre, the latter offering students access to sports activities and a dance studio. The sixth form was awarded 'Outstanding' by Ofsted in 2018.

Centre Site has had several recent developments with the opening of an upgraded hall and a rebuilt canteen and classroom block. On 25 April 2014, the Earl and Countess of Wessex visited the school to open the new hall block. [4] On 4 December 2015, Wantage MP, Ed Vaizey officially opened the new canteen and teaching block which includes a new 250 seat restaurant, a café and several teaching classrooms. [6]

A new science block at Centre Site was completed in January 2018. The new science building, built on the site of the previous drama and music block, helped with the move from three to two sites and also modernised the previous science facilities. Replacing the previous science block at Centre Site, which had only six laboratories. The new building contains ten laboratories and nine additional classrooms. [7]

Academy status

In February 2011 an OFSTED inspection identified King Alfred's as 'outstanding'; subsequently the school was designated as an academy. (The application for this status is said[ by whom? ] to have been made in the hope that it would bring in additional funding: both to counteract the impact of anticipated cuts, and to enable new building works to be undertaken.) However, the academy was identified as "Requires Improvements" in 2018.

See also

Related Research Articles

St Aldhelm's Academy is a co-educational secondary school serving the Rossmore, Parkstone, Newtown, Wallisdown and Alderney areas of Poole, Dorset, England.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">The Henry Cort Community College</span> Community school in Fareham, Hampshire, England

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Colyton Grammar School</span> Grammar school, academy in Colyford, Devon, England

Colyton Grammar School is a co-educational grammar school located in the village of Colyford in East Devon, England that caters for pupils aged 11 to 18. The school has been classified by Ofsted as "Outstanding" in three successive reports. As of 2023 it was ranked by The Sunday Times as the ninth-best state school in the country, and the second-best in the South West. Founded by local merchants in 1546, the school is situated on an 18-acre site near the Devon coast.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Beaconsfield School</span> Academy in Beaconsfield, Buckinghamshire, England

The Beaconsfield School is a co-educational secondary school and sixth form with academy status, located in Beaconsfield, Buckinghamshire, England. The school has approximately 870 pupils.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Queen Elizabeth's Grammar School, Ashbourne</span> Academy in Ashbourne, Derbyshire, England

Queen Elizabeth's School (QEGS) is a non-selective academy school for 11- to 18-year-olds in the town of Ashbourne, Derbyshire, England. In the academic year 2009–10, there were 1,396 pupils on roll.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Morecambe Bay Academy</span> Academy in Morecambe, Lancashire, England

Morecambe Bay Academy is a coeducational secondary school and sixth form located in Morecambe, Lancashire, England. It was founded as Morecambe Grammar School in 1919, moving to its current site on Dallam Avenue in 1938 on a former golf links course. In 2019, it was renamed to Morecambe Bay Academy during the process of becoming an academy.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Woodbridge High School, Woodford Green</span> Community school in St Barnabas Road, Woodford Green, Greater London, England

Woodbridge High School is a co-educational secondary school located in Woodford Green in the London Borough of Redbridge, London, England.

Witchford Village College is a secondary school in the village of Witchford, near Ely, Cambridgeshire, England. Before becoming an academy the school was a specialist Sports College. With approximately 820 pupils on roll, the college has fewer pupils than the national average (~950).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ousedale School</span> Academy in City of Milton Keynes, England

Ousedale School, is an academy based in Newport Pagnell and Olney, in the City of Milton Keynes, Buckinghamshire, England. The school opened in 1963 to serve the community of Newport Pagnell and its surrounding villages. A second campus in Olney opened in 2007 to serve students from the north of the Milton Keynes unitary authority area. It is one of the top performing schools in the Milton Keynes UA for A level and GCSE results, and achieved the top 20% of GCSE results nationally in 2019.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sale Grammar School</span> Academy/grammar school in Sale, Greater Manchester, England

Sale Grammar School is a grammar school located in Sale to the south of Manchester, England. The school became an Academy Trust Grammar School in 2011. Admission to the school is through its own entrance examination. Trafford LA operates a fully selective secondary education system with grammar and high schools. The most recent Ofsted report rated the school as "outstanding".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">St Bede's Catholic College</span> Secondary academy in Bristol, England

St Bede's Catholic College is a secondary school located in Lawrence Weston, Bristol, England. Since November 2011 it has been an Academy. The school also received a rating of Good during an Ofsted inspection in October 2021.

St Bede's Inter-Church School is the only Christian state secondary school in Cambridgeshire. It is an academy school with support from both the Roman Catholic Diocese of East Anglia and Anglican Diocese of Ely. The school currently has around 750 pupils and around 50 staff.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">St Thomas More Catholic School, Blaydon</span> Academy in Blaydon-on-Tyne, Tyne and Wear, England

St Thomas More Catholic School is a Roman Catholic secondary school with academy status in Blaydon, Tyne and Wear, England, providing teaching to 11- to 19-year-olds. It is a well-regarded and over-subscribed school, performing well both regionally and nationally. In its most recent OFSTED inspection (2023) it was credited with having cultivated a "climate of high ambition" and was rated as "good" in all major areas assessed. The school converted to academy status on 1 February 2012.

Montsaye Academy is a coeducational secondary school and sixth form located in Rothwell, England. As an academy it was granted dual specialty status in late 2004, adding Humanities to its well established Language College status. Meena Gabbi is the current principal. The school received a good review from OFSTED in January 2019. Montsaye is also the site of the developed Rothwell Swimming Pool, which now incorporates a modern sports centre used by the community as well as the school.

Fulford School is a coeducational comprehensive school on Fulfordgate near Heslington Lane in Fulford, York, England.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Trinity School, Belvedere</span> Academy in Belvedere, Greater London, England

Trinity School is a Church of England Secondary Academy located in Belvedere in the London Borough of Bexley. It is a mixed non-selective school located within a selective borough.

Oak Academy is a co-educational secondary school located in the northern outskirts of Bournemouth in the English county of Dorset.

Teign School is an 11–18 academy school located in Kingsteignton, a town to the north of Newton Abbot. The original 1936 building has been expanded upon substantially and numerous additional buildings have been constructed within the grounds. The school has entry level at Year 7. The school also has a sixth form centre. In 2004 it was awarded specialist Science status by the Specialist Schools Trust. The most recent Ofsted inspection was on 16 April 2015 which resulted in a 'good' rating.

East Bergholt High School is a secondary school in East Bergholt, Suffolk, 11 miles (18 km) north of Colchester, Essex, and nine miles (14 km) south of Ipswich, Suffolk. It has 931 students. The current headteacher is Mr Woodcock.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Culcheth High School</span> Community school in Culcheth, Cheshire, United Kingdom

Culcheth High School is a community school for students aged 11–16, located in Warrington, Cheshire. It serves many of the surrounding areas with a student base of over 1,000 students. In 2010, it opened a new £28,000,000 campus, combining the High School and Community Campus in one building.

References

  1. ↑ Ofsted profile, as of September 2012.
  2. 1 2 "Victoria County History". London: Archibald and Constable. 1907. p. 276. Archived from the original on 9 January 2007. Retrieved 15 December 2018.
  3. ↑ "Enrichment in the Sixth Form | King Alfred's Academy, Wantage, Oxfordshire UK". 1 August 2016. Retrieved 26 December 2021.
  4. 1 2 "The Earl and Countess of Wessex Visit King Alfred's Academy" . Retrieved 14 April 2016.
  5. ↑ "King Alfred's Academy, Wantage, wins permission to build 150 homes on East Site". Oxford Mail. 13 April 2016. Retrieved 14 April 2016.
  6. ↑ "MP's visit on menu at new school restaurant". Oxford Mail. 9 December 2015. Retrieved 14 April 2016.
  7. ↑ "Wantage secondary school to become first academy in the country to take out a loan". Bicester Advertiser. 13 April 2016. Retrieved 14 April 2016.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.