St George's Academy
Encyclopedia
St. George's Academy is an English secondary school in North Kesteven
North Kesteven
North Kesteven is a local government district in the East Midlands. Just over north of London, it is east of Nottingham and south of Lincoln. North Kesteven is one of seven districts in Lincolnshire, England and is in the centre of the County...

, Lincolnshire
Lincolnshire
Lincolnshire is a county in the east of England. It borders Norfolk to the south east, Cambridgeshire to the south, Rutland to the south west, Leicestershire and Nottinghamshire to the west, South Yorkshire to the north west, and the East Riding of Yorkshire to the north. It also borders...

, England. It was founded in 1908 and has now moved sites to the 32 acres (12.9 ha) land it is currently on. In 1994 the School gained specialist schools status as a Technology College. The school's facilities include a childcare centre that was opened in June 2008. It was called St. Georges College of Technology until January 2010.

It began as the First secondary school in the town to admit both male and female students, Kesteven and Sleaford High School
Kesteven and Sleaford High School
Kesteven and Sleaford High School is a grammar school for girls aged between eleven and eighteen, located on Jermyn Street in the small market town of Sleaford, Lincolnshire, England, close to Sleaford train station.-Awards:...

 took and still takes only girls and Carre's Grammar School
Carre's Grammar School
Carre's Grammar School is a selective school and specialist Sports and Science College located in the market town of Sleaford, in Lincolnshire, England. It was founded in 1604 by Sir Robert Carre...

 admits boys only.

The academy constitutes one half of the Sleaford Joint Sixth Form
Sleaford Joint Sixth Form
Sleaford Joint Sixth Form is a partnership in Sleaford, England between Carre's Grammar School and St George's Academy to provide greater learning opportunities for all students.-History:...

.

Information

  • Vice Principals: Mrs J Crow, Mrs H Anderson, Mr M Bamford, Mr T Crawshaw, Mrs J Steward, Mrs K Squire, Mr S Stinchcombe.
  • Location: Lincolnshire (County of England)


The School has over one thousand eight hundred students on roll which is not including part of the Joint Sixth Form, spanning two years (Lower and Upper Sixth). The school day for students begins at 8:40 and ends at 3:25. It is on the site of Westholme house, a 19th century Gothic building, which is said to be haunted.

Admissions

St. George's is a secondary modern school
Secondary modern school
A secondary modern school is a type of secondary school that existed in most of the United Kingdom from 1944 until the early 1970s, under the Tripartite System, and was designed for the majority of pupils - those who do not achieve scores in the top 25% of the eleven plus examination...

 in Lincolnshire
Lincolnshire
Lincolnshire is a county in the east of England. It borders Norfolk to the south east, Cambridgeshire to the south, Rutland to the south west, Leicestershire and Nottinghamshire to the west, South Yorkshire to the north west, and the East Riding of Yorkshire to the north. It also borders...

, England, which was first opened in 1908. It is located on Westholme off Westgate in the town of Sleaford
Sleaford
Sleaford is a town in the North Kesteven district of Lincolnshire, England. It is located thirteen miles northeast of Grantham, seventeen miles west of Boston, and nineteen miles south of Lincoln, and had a total resident population of around 14,500 in 6,167 households at the time...

. St. Georges contrasts with the other secondary (grammar) schools in the town, being the only one accepting both male and female students from the age of 11 until 18. It is one of the largest schools in Lincolnshire, with about 1,800 pupils.

At A level, some pupils may be allowed to transfer to either grammar school, but many A levels are taught in a joint fashion via the Sleaford Joint Sixth Form. The school also has links with the William Alvey CE
Church of England
The Church of England is the officially established Christian church in England and the Mother Church of the worldwide Anglican Communion. The church considers itself within the tradition of Western Christianity and dates its formal establishment principally to the mission to England by St...

 primary school.

History

The school opened on 4 May 1908 and was known as Sleaford New Council Schools and was built on Church Lane. Male and female lessons were conducted separately. Soon after it became Sleaford County Secondary School. In 1957, the school opened a series of new buildings at Westholme Park as Sleaford Secondary Modern School.

Being in rural Lincolnshire, there were many lessons on agriculture with livestock being kept on the site. In 1984, the Church Lane site was demolished and turned into housing. The school changed its name to become the St George's Technology School and it features the dragon on its badge. The agricultural lessons were dropped and the school became one of only twelve Technology College
Technology College
Technology College is a term used in the United Kingdom for a secondary specialist school that focuses on design and technology, mathematics and science. These were the first type of specialist schools, beginning in 1994. In 2008 there were 598 Technology Colleges in England, of which 12 also...

s (a specialist school
Specialist school
The specialist schools programme was a UK government initiative which encouraged secondary schools in England to specialise in certain areas of the curriculum to boost achievement. The Specialist Schools and Academies Trust was responsible for the delivery of the programme...

) in England in February 1994.

The Stable Blocks originally used for keeping horses still exist, and the school has a relatively large playing field on-site with eight tennis courts. The Brealey Languages Centre opened in 1985, the library and resource centre opened in 1999, the sports hall was opened in January 2001 by the Bishop of Grantham
Bishop of Grantham
The Bishop of Grantham is an episcopal title used by a suffragan bishop of the Church of England Diocese of Lincoln, in the Province of Canterbury, England. The title takes its name after the market town of Grantham in Lincolnshire. The bishop has episcopal oversight as the area bishop for the...

 and a new science block and construction academy opened in 2005. * In the 2007/2008 academic year, the school made national news when there was a minor leak of Sulphur Dioxide in the science block, leaving several students needing medical attention after collapsing.

In 2007 a new house was created, with the temporary name 'house' at first until a vote between 'Mason' (the first teacher on roll) and 'Lovell' (the first student on roll) declared Lovell the new name of the so called '5th house'. Its colour is purple.

The school is situated just south of Tesco
Tesco
Tesco plc is a global grocery and general merchandise retailer headquartered in Cheshunt, United Kingdom. It is the third-largest retailer in the world measured by revenues and the second-largest measured by profits...

.

On 1 January 2010, the school closed to form an academy. It combined with Ruskington's Coteland's School and Billingboough's Aveland School. The new academy is called 'St. George's Academy'.

The Brealey Centre

Opened in 1985, The Brealey Language Centre was constructed using the funds that the school governors had authorised. The centre had a satellite dish fitted that could pick up signals from Russia. The Centre has a large Lab, located in the heart of the block.

Once opened the Lab housed 30 BBC computers (complete with audio stations) and a special hub for teachers to monitor the class. In those days, the favoured software was 'Fun With Texts' (which is still used now to some extent). All of the PCs in the lab were networked but unfortunately the lab was not networked to the rest of the school, with few means of computerised communication.

During the early 1990s A-level Computing for the whole of Sleaford Sixth Form was hosted at the Brealey Centre, the programming language of choice being Turbo Pascal 6.0.

In 1994 St. George's received its Specialist Status and it was decided to connect the languages centre to the main school and adopt a complete network. Even today the centre still houses the main server to the school. Software and teaching methods changed as technology advanced and Microsoft Windows was installed in the 1990s.

Now the main Lab has been divided in two and the hub removed, with flat screen monitors and Windows 2003 installed it is considerably modern but St. George's are still trying to find more ways to improve.

Academy

St. George's started planning to form an academy in 2008. It has now merged with the Avelands School, located in Billingborough and Cotelands School, located in Ruskington. It received Academy status as from 1 January 2010. It has now taken over more schools, including a primary school in Ruskington. As the minimum age to enter primary school is 2 & 1/2 years old, this now means that a student could potentially begin at St Georges Academy at 2 and stay there (moving location, but still part of StGAcademy) until they are 19 years old. Therefore a student could spend over 16 years at this Academy.

Academic performance

The school's GCSE
General Certificate of Secondary Education
The General Certificate of Secondary Education is an academic qualification awarded in a specified subject, generally taken in a number of subjects by students aged 14–16 in secondary education in England, Wales and Northern Ireland and is equivalent to a Level 2 and Level 1 in Key Skills...

 results are:
  • 54% of pupils gaining five grades A-C including English and Maths in 2007.
  • It gets the second best GCSE results in North Kesteven, after Branston Community College
    Branston Community College
    Branston Community Academy, formerly known as Branston School and Community College, is a comprehensive school for 11-18 year old students on Station Road in Branston, Lincolnshire, England...

    .
  • It has a sixth form, which is part of a unique Joint Sixth Form (shared with Kesteven and Sleaford High School and Carres Grammar school - the two other main Sleaford Schools).


The College has gained numerous awards during its history. The following are some of the current awards:
  • Specialist Schools Trust: Technology Status (Technology Colleges specialise in teaching mathematics, science, design technology, and information and communication technology (ICT)).
  • Specialist School Trust: Applied Learning.
  • Outstanding Ofsted Report.
  • LEPP (Leading Edge Partnership Programme).
  • Artsmark Award from the Arts Council of England.
  • Fairtrade: In May 2008 the College gained Fairtrade School status and sells and encourages the sale of Fairtrade products. The food on sale is supplied by Traidcraft. The College is now supporting the initiative for Sleaford to become a Fairtrade Town.
  • Part of Healthy Schools Programme.


The school has many other awards too, but these are the recent and major awards.

Notable teachers

  • Mr. Mark Wallington (b 1952), teacher, former Professional Footballer. Teaches PE.

External links

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