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The Wellington Academy

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The Wellington Academy
Address
Map
Tidworth Road

Tidworth
,
Wiltshire
,
SP11 9RR

England
Information
TypeSponsored Academy
MottoHappiness Achievement Limitless
Established2009
FounderWellington Academy Trust
Department for Education URN135804 Tables
OfstedReports
PresidentHRH Duke of York
Chair of GovernorsDavid Cowley
School LeadershipDr Mike Milner (Executive Principal)
Staff170
GenderCoeducational
Age11 to 18
Enrollment1080
Cadet cap badge26 Royal Engineers
Websitehttp://www.thewellingtonacademy.org.uk

The Wellington Academy, founded in 2009, is Wiltshire's first academy. Located in Ludgershall, the academy is an 11-19 non-selective state-funded school, sponsored by Wellington College, an independent school in Berkshire.[1][2][3]

The President of the Academy is HRH Duke of York, who performed the official opening of the new campus in November 2011.[4] The first Principal of the Academy was Andy Schofield who oversaw its set-up, doubled its size to a school of over 1,000 and established its 6th Form. The Academy is now being run by Executive Principal, Dr Mike Milner, and Senior Vice Principal, Ms Abrilli Phillip.

Design

The Wellington Academy was designed by London-based architects BDP,[5] built by Kier [6][7][8] and was shortlisted in the best academy category for the Building Schools for the Future (BSF) Awards in 2009.[9][10]

Characteristics

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 students, and Castledown Radio media centre. Located near to Tidworth Garrison on Salisbury Plain, almost half of the school's students are from service families.[11][12] The Academy has a skills centre in the adjacent Castledown Business Park.[13]

Achievements

The Wellington Academy's first set of results in 2010 established the school as one of Wiltshire's highest performing.[14][15] The Academy was visited by Ofsted in December 2010 and was deemed to have made outstanding progress since opening.[16]

Summer of 2015 saw the Academy achieve its best exam results ever for both GCSE and GCE.

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 [17] by Queen Victoria in 1859.[18] Other independent schools were initially slow to do something similar, despite the high profile campaign led by Wellington College's former Master Anthony Seldon, though 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.[19][20][21][22][23][24]

Predecessors

The first school on the site was Tidworth Down School, a secondary modern 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.[25]

References

  1. ^ How private Wellington drew up battle plans for the state sector Times Education Supplement 18 December 2009
  2. ^ http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/life_and_style/education/article6953989
  3. ^ http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/education/7373435.stm
  4. ^ http://www.guardian.co.uk/education/2008/may/15/schools.uk1
  5. ^ http://www.e-architect.co.uk/england/wellington_academy_wiltshire.htm
  6. ^ http://www.kier.co.uk/media/details.asp?n=1691
  7. ^ http://techniker.oi-dev.org/blog/view/wellington-academy
  8. ^ http://www.kier.co.uk/construction/newsdetails.asp?x=1&co=13&n=1625
  9. ^ http://www.bdp.com/news/2009/Three-nominations-for-BDP-in-schools-awards/
  10. ^ http://www.salisburyjournal.co.uk/news/salisbury/salisburynews/4730091.Turf_cutting_for_Wellington_Academy/
  11. ^ http://www.serviceschools.com/cms/academies_prepare_to_take_boarders/
  12. ^ http://www.claireperry.org.uk/claire%27s-news/news-archive/visiting-the-wellington-academy/10families
  13. ^ http://www.salisburyjournal.co.uk/news/8220093.__100_000_for_learning_centre/
  14. ^ http://www.jamesgray.org/latest-news/mp-supports-wiltshire-academy-in-parliament
  15. ^ https://www.ssatrust.org.uk/Pages/GCSEWellington%20Academy.aspx
  16. ^ Ofsted monitoring report December 2010
  17. ^ http://www.number10.gov.uk/history-and-tour/prime-ministers-in-history/duke-of-wellington
  18. ^ http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/1555586/Wellington-puts-up-2m-for-state-academy.html
  19. ^ Private schools should run Academies, says Nick Gibb 9 June 2011
  20. ^ http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/education/article2602627.ece
  21. ^ http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/10102345
  22. ^ http://www.guardian.co.uk/education/2008/oct/10/schoolbranding-secondaryschools
  23. ^ http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/standard/article-23934277-free-schools-are-an-opportunity-not-a-threat.do
  24. ^ http://www.independent.co.uk/news/education/schools/a-bridge-across-the-great-divide-winchester-college-joins-the-academy-programme-1903924.html
  25. ^ "Tidworth Down School, Ludgershall". Wiltshire Community History. Wiltshire Council. Retrieved 25 April 2016.
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