The_Wellington_Academy

The Wellington Academy

The Wellington Academy

Academy in Wiltshire, England

The Wellington Academy, founded in 2009, is an 11–19 non-selective state-funded school near Ludgershall, Wiltshire, England. The school has academy status and was initially supported by Wellington College, an independent school in Berkshire.[1]

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History

The Wellington Academy opened in 2009 on the site of an earlier school. Its new building was designed by London-based architects BDP,[2] built by Kier,[3][4][5] and was shortlisted in the best academy category for the Building Schools for the Future Awards in 2009.[6][7]

The President of the academy is the Duke of York, who performed the official opening of the new campus in November 2011.[8][9] The first Headteacher was Andy Schofield who oversaw its set-up, doubled its size to over 1,000 pupils and established its sixth form.

Characteristics

The school's site is in Tidworth parish, about three-quarters of a mile (1.2 km) south-west of the town of Ludgershall, on the A3026 road towards Tidworth. The campus houses a community sports and fitness centre with bowling green, a hair salon, a cadet centre with indoor shooting range, twin boarding houses for 100 pupils and Castledown FM's radio studios. The academy has a skills centre in the adjacent Castledown Business Park.[10]

The school is near to Tidworth Garrison on Salisbury Plain, and in 2011 almost half of the school's pupils came from service families.[11]

School performance

The Wellington Academy's first set of results in 2010 established the school as one of Wiltshire's highest performing.[12][13] Summer of 2015 saw the academy achieve its best exam results for both GCSE and GCE.[citation needed]

The academy was visited by Ofsted in December 2010 and was deemed to have made outstanding progress since opening.[14] As of 2022, the school's most recent inspection was in 2016, with an outcome of Good.[15]

The Wellington Academy is the first in the country to take its name from an independent school, in this case Wellington College, founded as a national monument to the Duke of Wellington[16] by Queen Victoria in 1859.[17] Other independent schools were initially slow to follow suit, despite a campaign led by Wellington College's former Master Anthony Seldon. However, by 2011, around 28 independent schools were helping to run academies, including Sevenoaks School, Dulwich College, Malvern College, Marlborough College, Oundle School, Uppingham School and Winchester College, with strong encouragement from Government for even greater involvement.[18][19][20][21][22]

Predecessors

The first school on the site was Tidworth Down School, a secondary modern which opened in 1940. From 1965 the school was for boys only, with girls attending the newly built Ludgershall Castle School, then in 1978 the girls rejoined the boys and Tidworth Down was renamed Castledown School, a comprehensive.[23]

References

  1. [1]
    "Wellington College to run Academy". 29 April 2008 – via news.bbc.co.uk.
  2. [2]
    "Wellington Academy, Wiltshire School Building - e-architect". 10 February 2009.
  3. [3]
    "Wellington Academy well on its way, Kier News, Kier Group PLC". Archived from the original on 22 July 2011. Retrieved 10 April 2011.
  4. [4]
    "Techniker | Blog - Wellington Academy". Archived from the original on 30 August 2011. Retrieved 10 April 2011.
  5. [5]
    "Time will tell at the Wellington Academy - Kier Moss Company News, Regional Contracting, Kier Construction, Kier Group PLC". Archived from the original on 22 July 2011. Retrieved 10 April 2011.
  6. [6]
    "BDP | Three nominations for BDP in schools awards". Archived from the original on 28 July 2011. Retrieved 10 April 2011.
  7. [7]
    "Turf cutting for Wellington Academy". Salisbury Journal.
  8. [8]
    Lipsett, Anthea (15 May 2008). "Prince Andrew to be president of Wellington Academy". the Guardian. Retrieved 31 March 2018.
  9. [9]
    Dancey, Steve (21 October 2011). "Wellington Academy officially opened by Duke of York". Andover Advertiser. Retrieved 31 March 2018.
  10. [10]
    Robertson, Miranda (15 June 2010). "£100,000 for learning centre". Salisbury Journal. Retrieved 28 March 2018.
  11. [11]
    "Academies prepare to take boarders". Service Parents' Guide to Boarding Schools. Archived from the original on 1 July 2011.
  12. [12]
    "MP supports Wiltshire Academy in Parliament - James Gray - Conservative Member of Parliament for North Wiltshire". Archived from the original on 24 January 2011. Retrieved 10 April 2011.
  13. [13]
    "Specialist Schools and Academies Trust | GCSE results soar at new Wellington Academy". Archived from the original on 28 September 2011. Retrieved 10 April 2011.
  14. [14]
    "Ofsted monitoring report December 2010" (PDF).
  15. [15]
    Smith, Stephen (2016). "The Wellington Academy". Ofsted. Retrieved 8 October 2022.
  16. [16]
    "Duke of Wellington | Number10.gov.uk". Archived from the original on 15 July 2010. Retrieved 24 September 2015.
  17. [17]
    Cleland, Gary (24 June 2007). "Wellington puts up £2m for state academy" – via www.telegraph.co.uk.
  18. [18]
    "Private schools 'should run academies', says Nick Gibb - Telegraph". Archived from the original on 20 September 2018. Retrieved 3 April 2018.
  19. [19]
    Richardson, Hannah (7 May 2010). "Eton would back boarding academy". BBC News.
  20. [20]
    Gould, Mark (10 October 2008). "Failing Bristol academy plans to open African schools". the Guardian.
  21. [21]
    "Free schools are an opportunity, not a threat | News". Archived from the original on 26 March 2011. Retrieved 10 April 2011.
  22. [22]
    "A bridge across the great divide: Winchester College joins the academy". Archived from the original on 20 June 2022.
  23. [23]
    "Tidworth Down School, Ludgershall". Wiltshire Community History. Wiltshire Council. Retrieved 25 April 2016.
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