Following the announcement that the Church of England and Mr & Mrs David and Anne Crossland have agreed to sponsor the proposed academy for Darlington, the Council and the sponsors wanted to highlight some facts about the proposal:
Popularity
Academies are proving hugely popular with parents and students:
- The City of London Academy, Southwark - received around 1,200 applications for 180 Year 7 places for September 2005 intake.
- Mossbourne Academy, Hackney - attracted more than 500 applications for its 180 Year 7 places, in its first year. There were more than 1,100 applications for the 180 places for 2005.
- Stockley Academy, Hillington - the number of Year 7 students choosing the Academy as their first choice school went up by 378 per cent from 37 in 2002/03 to 140 in 2004/05.
- The Academy at Peckham, Southwark - the new sense of purpose, improved reporting and efforts to engage parents have increased attendance at parents’ evenings from 40 per cent to 80 per cent. The Academy now provides two parents’ evenings for each pupil per year, compared with the previous one per year.
- Academies were the first choice for around eight out of ten parents according to a report in 2005. Academies Evaluation - 2nd Annual Report (pdf document). The main reasons given by parents and pupils for selecting an academy centred on the academic and teaching standards (nine out of ten parents said that this was important), the leadership (eight out of ten parents), and the specialism (seven out of ten parents). All academies made up from existing schools indicated that applications for places were significantly higher compared to applications for the old schools.
Performance
Academies are already achieving significant success in raising standards, improving pupils’ behaviour and attendance and in attracting applications:
Academies have, on average, improved their collective GCSE results by five per cent a year since the first academies opened.
The average number of students in all academies achieving five or more A*- C grades at GCSE was approximately 35.3 per cent in 2005, compared to an average 21 per cent in their predecessor schools in 2002.
- Bexley Academy -Key Stage 3 results have increased significantly since it opened. There has been a 29 per cent increase in children reaching their target since the school opened in 2002.
- City Academy in Bristol - the number of children achieving five or more A*- C GCSE results rose from 33 per cent in 2004 to 51 per cent in 2005.
- King's Academy, Middlesbrough -results rose from an average of 22 per cent in the two predecessor schools in 2003 to 44 per cent in 2005. It has also seen an increase of 16 per cent in its Key Stage 3 results in that time.
- City Academy, Bristol - the Principal Ray Priest was named secondary Head teacher of the Year for the West of England in 2004.
- Walsall Academy - attendance improved by more than 10 per cent in the first half of the school year, compared to its predecessor.
5+ A*- C GCSE passes
|
Academy |
2002 |
2003 |
2004 |
2005 |
2006 |
Increase/decrease |
|
|
(%) |
(%) |
(%) |
(%) |
(%) |
2006 on 2002 |
|
Greig City Academy |
26 |
35 |
26 |
53 |
61 |
Increase |
|
The Business Academy Bexley |
7 |
21 |
34 |
30 |
32 |
Increase |
|
Unity City Academy |
22/11 |
16 |
17 |
15 |
34 |
Increase |
|
Capital City Academy |
14 |
12.5 |
29 |
15 |
31 |
Increase |
|
City of London (Southwark) Academy |
n/a |
n/a |
n/a |
n/a |
n/a |
No yr 11 yet |
|
Djanogly City Academy Nottingham |
55/21 |
60 |
51 |
57 |
57 |
Increase |
|
Manchester Academy |
12 |
12 |
8 |
24 |
29 |
Increase |
|
The Academy at Peckham |
22 |
16 |
12 |
22 |
30 |
Increase |
|
The City Academy, Bristol |
25 |
26 |
33 |
51 |
50 |
Increase |
|
The King’s Academy |
21/28 |
15/28 |
34 |
44 |
35 |
Increase |
|
The Walsall City Academy |
22 |
49 |
50 |
66 |
57 |
Increase |
|
The West London Academy |
13 |
37 |
35 |
23 |
48 |
Increase |
|
Northampton Academy |
29 |
19 |
30 |
36 |
40 |
Increase |
|
Stockley Academy |
8 |
14 |
19 |
20 |
32 |
Increase |