Churchill Academy and Sixth Form, previously known as Churchill Community Foundation School and Sixth Form Centre, is an academy famously situated in the South West of England, in the village of

Churchill Sir Winston Leonard Spencer Churchill (30 November 187424 January 1965) was a British statesman, soldier, and writer who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom twice, from 1940 to 1945 during the Second World War, and again from 1 ...

, North Somerset, England, surrounded by countryside and overlooked by the

Mendip Hills The Mendip Hills (commonly called the Mendips) is a range of limestone hills to the south of Bristol and Bath in Somerset, England. Running from Weston-super-Mare and the Bristol Channel in the west to the Frome valley in the east, the hills ...

. It educates students from ages 11 to 18 and offers General Certificate of Secondary Education, A-levels and

BTEC BTEC may refer to: * Begumgonj Textile Engineering College, a college in Bangladesh * Biomass Thermal Energy Council, a US advocacy organization * Business and Technology Education Council, a British body, now part of Edexcel, which awards vocationa ...

courses. In 2002, the school was granted specialist Arts College status. In August 2011, the school became an academy. The current headteacher is Chris Hildrew, who has held this position since the beginning of 2016; Dr Barry Wratten retired in 2015 after being at the helm of the school for 13 years (since 2002). The school was rated 'Outstanding' in its 2015 Ofsted Report. The school, which had 1,519 students as of 2019, is organised by

house system The house system is a traditional feature of schools in the United Kingdom. The practice has since spread to Commonwealth countries and the United States. The school is divided into subunits called "houses" and each student is allocated to o ...

, with the houses named after royal dynasties of Britain: Stuart (green), Hanover (gold), Tudor (red) and Windsor (blue). A fifth house, Lancaster (purple), was introduced in 2020. Churchill celebrated its diamond jubilee in 2017. A new Computing and Business Studies block, named the Alan Turing Building, was built and completed in 2017. Funding was also received in 2017 to build a new Science and Technology block to replace the original 1956 building known as "Tudor Block." The new building was named the Dame Athene Donald Building following a student competition.

History of the school

The school took its first intake of students in January 1957, before its official opening as Churchill Secondary Modern School on Friday, 20 September 1957. In 1969, the school became a comprehensive. In 1996, it became Churchill Community School, before adopting foundation status in 2007 as Churchill Community Foundation School and Sixth Form Centre. The school became an academy on 1 August 2011 as Churchill Academy & Sixth Form. As of 1 April 2023 Churchill Academy & Sixth Form has been part of the Lighthouse Schools Partnership multi-academy trust.

Notable alumni

Rhianna Pratchett – game writer Stefanie Martini – actress

Ruby Harrold Ruby Esther Harrold (born 4 June 1996) is a British artistic gymnast who was a member of the British Olympic team for the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Harrold was also a reserve athlete for the 2012 Summer Olympics team. ...

– gymnast

Other activities

Since 1995 the school has been a member of the Gabblers Club, the Bristol-based debating organisation. The school has won its annual competition four times, the most recent being 2015 In 2017 George Rabin and Ed Thurlow, students at Churchill Academy, were named GSK Young Scientists of the Year. Also the school has produced an array of successful debating champions who compete each year in a local competition run by Dr. Liam Fox MP. The most recent victory was in 2019.

References

External links

*
Churchill Music school site
{{authority control Educational institutions established in 1956 Academies in North Somerset Secondary schools in North Somerset 1956 establishments in England