Lead sponsor

Co-sponsors

Thomas Ferens AcademyProspectus 2012

Contents

01 Message from the Principal Designate

02 Overview and Vision

03 Principles and mission

04 Ethos and Specialisms

06 The building

07 The educational journey

08 Academy Governance

10 General admissions process

12 Sponsors and their roles

13 Where to find us

1

Dear parents/carers and students,I am delighted to introduce our new Academy.This is a tremendously exciting opportunity foryoung people in Hull.

We open our doors to the first Academystudents in September 2012. Our vision isambitious. We want the next generation ofworld leaders to come from the Academy.

We will work hard to achieve our goal. This means outstandingleadership, superb teaching, high standards of learning, behaviourand achievement and a huge range of opportunities for students toenjoy school and to become well educated for a great future.

Students, parents and the community will be at the heart of theAcademy because this is the key to success. I want parents to beproud to send their children to our Academy and to feel that theAcademy is a place where their children’s lives and futures will be ingood hands.

The Academy is very lucky to have the benefit of an outstandinggroup of sponsors (the University of Hull, Wyke Sixth Form College,Wilberforce Sixth Form College and Hull City Council) who will workclosely with me and the governors to ensure that the Academyachieves its ambitions.

We are dedicated and committed to giving you the very best.

I look forward to meeting and welcoming you.

Juliet StrangPrincipal Designate

Message from the Principal Designate

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Overview and Vision

The Academy will open in September 2012. It willbe a leading-edge ‘Centre of Excellence’ using themost up-to-date knowledge and technology toinspire young people to learn and achieve.

A very large financial investment has been made innew buildings designed to maximise learning, with abeautiful environment and exceptional facilities.Together with outstanding leadership,a 21st-century curriculum and brilliant teaching, thiswill make the Academy an impressive school for thechildren of our aspiring and inspiring City of Hull.

VisionThe Academy will promote the development ofeach and every student as an expert learner,helping them to attain the highest grades, goodself-confidence and a love of learning.

The environment will be inspiring, well planned andwelcoming.

Teachers will be highly skilled, and students will bemotivated to learn.A ‘can-do’ approach will generate optimism, inspireconfidence and encourage achievement.

A huge range of learning opportunities outside theclassroom, coupled with the ‘One-World Citizen’ethos, will make school a lively place to be and givethe students a really good education.

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Principles and mission

The Academy will be purposeful, calm, welcoming andinclusive. It will be based on six key principles:

1 Everyone at the Academy will be an effective andresponsible learner.

2 Team work and leadership will be essential for staffand students.By working together we will achieve success.

3 Creativity, innovation, problem solving and asupportive environment, encouraging learners to beadventurous, will be features of all aspects of Academylife.

4 Parents and carers will be active partners supportinglearners to ensure that they achieve their full potential.

5 The latest digital technology will be exploited to thefull to support teaching, leadership, learning andcommunication.

6 Every learner will be respected and entitled to learningand personal experiences that give the best educationand opportunities for the next steps to post-16education or training.

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Ethos and Specialisms

The Academy will be inclusive, innovative anddynamic, with a distinctive international dimension.It will promote the notion of ‘One-WorldCitizenship’ in a 21st-century global community.

Students will have many opportunities to followpersonal interests and engage in cultural, artistic andsporting activities.

A ‘can-do’ philosophy and a culture of enjoyment,confidence, respect, responsibility, achievement andaspiration will pervade all aspects of Academy life.

SpecialismsThe Academy will offer a wide range of academic,vocational and applied courses, ensuring astimulating programme of learning for all students.It will offer specialisms in science and languages.

Science Learners will be introduced to concepts ofenvironmental science and sustainability.The sponsors are particularly keen to see youngpeople benefiting from engaging science teaching,especially of a kind that gets them exploring practicaland real-life questions.

Languages Languages are very important because we live andwork in a global market. They are of particularimportance to young people and their communitiesin Hull because of the city’s maritime heritage and itsposition as a world port and gateway to Europe.Knowledge of languages will help our students getahead in tomorrow’s world.

Language teaching will be exceptional and use thebest techniques known today, including careersevents with the business community and a world cafewhere learners can practise their foreign-languageskills with native speakers.

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The building

Full planning permission for theAcademy was granted in January 2011and construction commenced on site inMarch 2011, which means that theschool is on target to open inSeptember 2012.

The £24.5 million Academy willaccommodate 1,250 pupils between theages of 11 and 16, admitting 250 Year 7pupils annually.

The new buildings have been designed tobe eco-friendly and distinctive, and tocreate a positive and stimulating learningenvironment.

The Academy is situated to the north-westof the Princess Elizabeth Playing Fields,with the sports field and facilities to thesouth and east. Areas of the originalplaying-field site will be retained for publicaccess, while the Academy’s sportingfacilities will be made accessible for sportsclubs and public use out of school hours.

The site is geographically central to thenorth Hull communities. Pupils and theirfamilies will have easy access through thecomprehensive network of pathways, cycleroutes and roads, with frequent busservices.

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The educational journey

The Academy will have personalisedcurriculum pathways for learners at KeyStage 3 to help strengthen theirtransition from the primary phase.

We will cater for gifted and talentedlearners, those with special needs andthose with low prior attainment. TheAcademy’s focus in Key Stage 3 will be onproviding a strong culture of learning andensuring that all students have well-developed basic skills in literacy andnumeracy.

The curriculum will ensure effectiveprogression for all. We will offer GCSE andvocational programmes and provideopportunities for learners to take an earlyAS level. All students will undertake work-related learning.

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Academy Governance

The Academy has a Trust Board withrepresentatives from the lead sponsor theUniversity of Hull and co-sponsors Wyke SixthForm College, Wilberforce Sixth Form College andHull City Council.

The Trust Board has overall responsibility for theAcademy and is accountable to the Department forEducation for transforming education through thesuccess of the Academy in North Hull.

The Governing Body is responsible for the strategicdirection of the Academy as well as for supportingand challenging the Principal and the school pupilsand staff to raise levels of achievement and besuccessful in all aspects of the life of the Academy.

The Governing Body of the Academy will be madeup of twelve members who would be appointed bythe Board of Trustees, and would comprise:

Sponsor representatives• Four members appointed by the University • One member from Wyke Sixth Form College • One member from Wilberforce Sixth FormCollege

• Two members from Hull City Council, one ofwhom would be an officer from Children’s andYoung People’s Services

Other Members• Two parent governors – elected• One staff governor elected• One community governor elected • Principal (ex-officio governor)

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General admissions process

Requirement for the admission of pupils to the Thomas Ferens Academy1. Pupils on roll in Sir Henry Cooper School will transfer automatically to the

Academy on opening. All children already offered a place at Sir Henry CooperSchool will be admitted.

Procedure for admitting pupils to the AcademyAdmission Number(s)

2. The Academy Trust has the following agreed admission number for the Academyfor the year 2012/2013 and, subject to any changes approved or required by theSecretary of State, for subsequent years:

a) 250 for pupils in Year 7.

Process of Application

3. Arrangements for applications for places at the Northern Academy, Hull will bemade in accordance with the Local Authority’s co-ordinated admissionarrangements and will be made on the Common Application Form provided andadministered by the relevant local authority.

4. It is not expected that the Academy will be oversubscribed in its first year as theincreased capacity of the school to take 250 pupils in Year 7 is unlikely to beexceeded.

Procedures where the Northern Academy is oversubscribed – for information

5. Where the number of applications for admission is greater than the publishedadmission number of 250 pupils into Year 7, applications will be consideredagainst the criteria set out below. After the admission of pupils with statementsof Special Educational Needs where the Northern Academy is named on thestatement, the criteria will be applied in the order in which they are set out below:

a) children in public care; (Looked after children) A looked after child is a childin the care of a Local Authority or is provided with accommodation by thatAuthority (section 22 of the Children Act 1989).

b) Significant medical factors or exceptional family circumstances. (see note (i)below)

c) Being resident in the catchment area of the school (see note (ii) below)

d) Having a brother or sister who will be attending the school at the expectedtime of admission (see note (iii) next page)

e) Geographical, with priority given to those living nearest to the school (seenotes (ii) and (iv) next page)

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Notes(i) Significant medical needs must be supported at the time of application by a letter

from the GP or other medical professional indicating how the medical conditionrelates to the school preference. Exceptional family circumstances must besupported at the time of application by a letter from a supporting agency (e.g.Social Worker or Family Support Worker) indicating how the circumstances relateto the school preference. These applications will be given consideration under areview procedure in advance of school allocations being completed.

(ii) Residence is defined as the normal family address where the child resides. Thequalification date is the closing date for applications under the coordinatedadmissions scheme. (Where families change normal address after the closing datebut before the allocation process has finished this can be considered under thereview procedure). Where parents live at separate addresses and have jointcustody, the address used will be the one where the child spends the main part ofthe school week (i.e. Sunday night to Thursday night inclusive). Childcarearrangements involving relatives’ addresses do not qualify as normal familyaddresses for this purpose unless there is a court Residence Order in place.

(iii) Brothers and sisters include children with the same natural parents living at thesame address, children with the same natural parents living at different addresses(e.g. due to separation of natural parents), half–brothers/sisters living at the sameaddress, step–brothers/sisters living at the same address, children living as part ofthe same family unit with their parents at the same address.

(iv) The measurement of distance is the shortest available safe route for pedestriansalong footpaths, using footpaths alongside roads marked on the current streetmap of the City. (The only exception to this is the maintained footpath across EastPark from Hawkesbury St. to James Reckitt Ave. for access to Malet LambertSchool). Front entrance of home property (residence) to main entrance of schoolsite is used. The Academy will use Routefinder, a computer mapping system, tomake measurements.

(v) The geographical criterion will be used as a tie-breaker for other criteria. Where aschool is oversubscribed from within its catchment area after the allocation ofstatemented and children under criteria 1 and 2, then the brothers/sisters andgeographical criteria will be used in that order as tie-breakers.

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Sponsors and their roles

The University of HullThe University has a high international profileand is regularly ranked among the bestuniversities in the country in major studentsurveys, scoring very well on teaching andlearning and on the overall studentexperience. It boasts a flourishing academiccommunity featuring world-class teachingand research, impressive facilities and astrong support network across its campuses.

Students at the Academy will benefit fromthe University’s educational research andfrom its worldwide educational partnerships.As part of the project, the University isworking in collaboration with internationalICT companies and research programmes toprovide expertise and technology to theAcademy.

The University’s expertise and experience ineducational research will provide theAcademy and its staff with the most up-to-date knowledge on education and schoolimprovement, and learners will benefit fromcutting-edge developments in these areas.

Hull City CouncilThe council delivers a wide and diverse rangeof services to the local community, and itemploys approximately 14,000 people acrossthe city. Over the last few years it has won orbeen shortlisted for a string of awards ineducation, business, the environment,housing, and health and social care.

Hull City Council is committed to workingwith the Academy and its sponsors todevelop close links with local primary schoolsand the community, achieved throughcurriculum developments, the behaviourpartnership and support for professionaldevelopment through the planned Children’sWorkforce Development Centre.

Wyke Sixth Form CollegeThe College serves Hull and the villages andtowns of the East Riding of Yorkshire. It has1250 16-19 year old students in 2011 and isgrowing fast. Pass rates and value-addedscores are outstanding. The College wasjudged to be Good at its last full inspectionand since then Inspectors on a monitoringvisit have identified significant furtherprogress and development across the fullrange of service for students.

The College will support the development ofthe subject specialisms and ensure thatstudents have the opportunity to progress toA level and other Level 3 courses at Wyke.

The College has particular expertise andexperience in project management, havingrecently completed a completere-development, and will provide advice onindependent governance for the Academy.

Wilberforce Sixth Form CollegeThe College serves the eastern side of Hulland the towns and villages of Holderness.It has more than 1,650 learners, of whom1,600 are 16- to 19-year-olds. About 85% ofits students are from East Hull secondaryschools. The most recent inspection reporton the College (November 2008) found thatthe ‘effectiveness of provision is good andsome aspects are outstanding’. Studentachievement is good in all areas, includingthe vocational areas which constitute half ofthe College’s work.

Wilberforce Sixth Form College willcontribute knowledge and expertise to thedevelopment of the new Academy in theareas of curriculum development, technologyimplementation, finance, personnel andestates management, and advice andguidance.

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Where to find us

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