Acland Burghley School

Acland Burghley School
Motto Learning to succeed together
Established 1964
Type Community school
Location Burghley road
Tufnell Park
London
NW5 1UJ
England
51°33′27″N 0°08′24″W / 51.5574°N 0.140°W / 51.5574; -0.140Coordinates: 51°33′27″N 0°08′24″W / 51.5574°N 0.140°W / 51.5574; -0.140
Local authority Camden
DfE URN 100053 Tables
Ofsted Reports
Gender Coeducational
Ages 11–18
Website aclandburghley.camden.sch.uk
Filming outside of Acland Burghley School for the documentary for the DVD release of Chalk. This part of the school is seen on the show's opening titles.

Acland Burghley School is a mixed comprehensive secondary school in the Tufnell Park area of the London Borough of Camden, in London, England. The school received specialist status as an Arts College in 2000 and is a part of the LaSWAP Sixth Form Consortium.

The 2013 Ofsted report summarised the school as follows: ‘The school is larger than the average secondary school. Approximately two-fifths of students are White British. A significant proportion of students are from other White backgrounds, White and Black Caribbean and other Black backgrounds. Several other minority ethnic groups are represented in the school. Over 50% of students speak English as an additional language. An above average proportion of students are known to be eligible for the pupil premium, which provides additional funding for children in local authority care, students known to be eligible for free school meals and those from families in the armed forces. A similar proportion of students are entitled to the Year 7 catch-up premium. The proportion of students supported through school action is below average. The proportion of students supported through school action plus or with a statement of special educational needs is above average. The most common needs are behavioural, emotional and social difficulties and speech, language and communication needs. There are also students with physical disabilities. The school has specialist arts status and has gained the Arts Mark Gold Award.’[1]

The Good Schools Guide said that the school was "remarkable for its art and for the egalitarian effects of its anti-bullying and peer mentoring programme.'[2] The school is above national average for the new Attainment 8 headline measure. The amount of pupils achieving grade C or better in English and Maths is above the national average and the amount of pupils attaining the English Baccalaureate is significantly above national average.[3] The school has also twinned with Chianna Primary school from Ghana, and during the year donations are collected and sent to the school in Ghana, who are in need of basic educational supplies.

Previous headteacher Michael Shew hit out at a supply teacher for secretly filming pupils misbehaving in class. He confirmed that the school had featured on Channel 5’s hidden camera documentary Classroom Chaos after he was contacted by the Camden New Journal. The documentary, which received widespread media coverage, showed pupils misbehaving during a Media Studies class. Mr Shew argued that the programme’s makers used underhand tactics to film children without their permission and had opened up the possibility of legal action.[4]

The school was constructed in the 1960s in the Brutalist style. In March 2016, the building was given a Grade II listing and in September of the same year the school took part in London's Open House weekend, when hundreds of buildings are open to the public because they are considered to be architecturally significant. It is the only school designed by the iconic practice Howard, Killick, Partridge and Amis (HKPA), who also designed the Young Vic theatre and several colleges at Oxford and Cambridge Universities. In 1984 and 1985, the school was closed to allow asbestos to be removed.

The current headteacher is Nicholas John. Former headteacher Jo Armitage was praised as having a significantly positive impact on the school in a 2010 Ofsted report .[1] This was less positive in the 2013 inspection where the school was inspected and given notice to improve. A subsequent Ofsted monitoring report in September 2016 judged senior leaders and governors as "taking effective action to tackle the areas requiring improvement... in order to become a good school"[5] and stated that "In a short space of time the new headteacher (Nicholas John) has been instrumental in delivering significant improvements."[5] The most recent Ofsted report in March 2018 gave the school a 'Good'[6] rating again and judged the effectiveness of leadership and management as 'Outstanding'.[6]

LaSWAP Sixth Form

The LaSWAP Sixth Form is the sixth form consortium of four North London schools: Acland Burghley School, La Sainte Union Catholic School, Parliament Hill School and William Ellis School. It is one of the largest sixth form consortia in the Greater London area offering some 42 different AS and A2 courses, AGCEs, BTECs, NVQs and GCSE courses. The name was formed from the first three letters of La Sainte Union and the first letter of the other three schools.

Notable former pupils

Depiction in Fiction

The exterior of the school was used as the fictional Galfast High in Steven Moffat's 1997 sitcom Chalk.[14]

The school was featured on the first episode of the third series of the Channel 4 show Balls of Steel.

The exterior of the school was used again in 'Supernova' a 2006 story in the BBC drama series Silent Witness

The school is revealed as Peter Grant's old school in Whispers Under Ground and to have a ghost haunting the railway tracks under its playground.

The science lab in Robert Muchamore's first book in the Cherub series, The Recruit, was based on the Acland Burghley science labs.

References

  1. 1 2 "Acland Burghley School". Ofsted. Retrieved 24 April 2014.
  2. ↑ "Acland Burghley School | London | LEA:Camden". The Good Schools Guide. Archived from the original on 31 December 2010. Retrieved 24 April 2014.
  3. ↑ Compare school and college performance https://www.compare-school-performance.service.gov.uk/school/100053. Missing or empty |title= (help)
  4. ↑ Rik Henderson, Made by Michael (6 May 2005). "Camden New Journal". Camden New Journal. Retrieved 24 April 2014.
  5. 1 2 Matthews, Helen (26 September 2016). "Ofsted Monitoring Report September 2016" (PDF).
  6. 1 2 "Acland Burghley Ofsted Inspection Report March 2018" (PDF). aclandburghley.camden.sch.uk.
  7. 1 2 "Why Shakespeare inspires rapper Akala". London Evening Standard. 18 March 2008. Archived from the original on 24 April 2014. Retrieved 24 April 2014.
  8. ↑ http://www.aclandburghley.camden.sch.uk/calendar/news?item=738 Archived July 14, 2014, at the Wayback Machine.
  9. ↑ Savage, V. (13 December 2011). "Grange Hill Behind the Scenes (1987)". YouTube. Retrieved 1 July 2015.
  10. ↑ https://archive.islingtontribune.com/news/2014/jan/headteacher-quits-acland-burghley-school-after-%E2%80%98too-harsh%E2%80%99-report-ofsted-inspectors
  11. ↑ http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3419953/You-ve-missed-point-Old-Etonian-actor-Damian-Lewis-blasts-former-state-school-pupils-said-banned-attending-anniversary-party.html
  12. ↑ "Henderson's Boys author, Robert Muchamore, returns to inspire youngsters at old school". Camden New Journal. 2 February 2012. Archived from the original on 2013-11-13. Retrieved 24 April 2014.
  13. 1 2 3 http://www.aclandburghley.camden.sch.uk/ContactAlumni-27062018133516/
  14. ↑ After the Chalk Dust Settled, featurette on Chalk Series 1 DVD, ReplayDVD.co.uk, prod. & dir. Craig Robins
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