The Wellington Academy

The Wellington Academy
Motto Happiness Achievement Limitless
Established 2009
Type Sponsored Academy
President HRH Duke of York
Executive Headteacher Ms Abrilli Philip
Chair of Governors David Cowley
Founder Wellington Academy Trust
Location Tidworth Road
Tidworth
Wiltshire
SP11 9RR
England
51°14′24″N 1°39′50″W / 51.240°N 1.664°W / 51.240; -1.664Coordinates: 51°14′24″N 1°39′50″W / 51.240°N 1.664°W / 51.240; -1.664
DfE URN 135804 Tables
Ofsted Reports
Staff 170
Students 1,080 pupils
Gender Coeducational
Ages 11–18
Cadet cap badge 26 Royal Engineers
Website Official website Edit this at Wikidata

The Wellington Academy, founded in 2009, is Wiltshire's first academy. Located in the town of 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 the Duke of York, who performed the official opening of the new campus in November 2011.[4][5] The first Headteacher of the Academy was Andy Schofield who oversaw its set-up, doubled its size to a school of over 1,000 and established its sixth form. The Academy is now being run by Executive Headteacher Ms Abrilli Phillip.

Design

The Wellington Academy was designed by London-based architects BDP,[6] built by Kier [7][8][9] and was shortlisted in the best academy category for the Building Schools for the Future (BSF) Awards in 2009.[10][11]

Characteristics

The school's site is in Tidworth parish, about three-quarters of a mile (1.2 km) southwest 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.[12]

Located near to Tidworth Garrison on Salisbury Plain, almost half of the school's pupils are from service families.[13][14]

Achievements

The Wellington Academy's first set of results in 2010 established the school as one of Wiltshire's highest performing.[15][16] The Academy was visited by Ofsted in December 2010 and was deemed to have made outstanding progress since opening.[17]

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 [18] by Queen Victoria in 1859.[19] Other independent schools were initially slow to do something similar, despite the high-profile 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.[20][2][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. 1 2 "The Times & The Sunday Times".
  3. ↑ "Wellington College to run Academy". 29 April 2008 – via news.bbc.co.uk.
  4. ↑ Lipsett, Anthea (15 May 2008). "Prince Andrew to be president of Wellington Academy". the Guardian. Retrieved 31 March 2018.
  5. ↑ Dancey, Steve (21 October 2011). "Wellington Academy officially opened by Duke of York". Andover Advertiser. Retrieved 31 March 2018.
  6. ↑ "Wellington Academy, Wiltshire School Building - e-architect". 10 February 2009.
  7. ↑
  8. ↑
  9. ↑
  10. ↑
  11. ↑ "Turf cutting for Wellington Academy". Salisbury Journal.
  12. ↑ Robertson, Miranda (15 June 2010). "£100,000 for learning centre". Salisbury Journal. Retrieved 28 March 2018.
  13. ↑
  14. ↑
  15. ↑
  16. ↑
  17. ↑ "Ofsted monitoring report December 2010" (PDF).
  18. ↑ "Archived copy". Archived from the original on July 15, 2010. Retrieved September 24, 2015.
  19. ↑ Cleland, Gary (24 June 2007). "Wellington puts up £2m for state academy" – via www.telegraph.co.uk.
  20. ↑
  21. ↑ Richardson, Hannah (7 May 2010). "Eton would back boarding academy" – via www.bbc.co.uk.
  22. ↑ Gould, Mark (10 October 2008). "Failing Bristol academy plans to open African schools". the Guardian.
  23. ↑
  24. ↑ "A bridge across the great divide: Winchester College joins the academy".
  25. ↑ "Tidworth Down School, Ludgershall". Wiltshire Community History. Wiltshire Council. Retrieved 25 April 2016.
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