Grace Academy is a mixed

secondary school A secondary school describes an institution that provides secondary education and also usually includes the building where this takes place. Some secondary schools provide both '' secondary education, lower secondary education'' (ages 11 to 14) ...

located in

Coventry Coventry ( or ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city in the West Midlands (county), West Midlands, England. It is on the River Sherbourne. Coventry has been a large settlement for centuries, although it was not founded and given its ...

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

. It has an expanding

sixth form In the education systems of England, Northern Ireland, Wales, Jamaica, Trinidad and Tobago and some other Commonwealth countries, sixth form represents the final two years of secondary education, ages 16 to 18. Pupils typically prepare for A-l ...

which is part of the North East Federation. It was formerly Woodway Park School and Community College, and was converted into an academy on 31 August 2008 using the same buildings, prior to housing the new academy in new buildings on 24 February 2010 The academy was operated by Grace Foundation, a

registered charity A charitable organization or charity is an organization whose primary objectives are philanthropy and social well-being (e.g. educational, religious or other activities serving the public interest or common good). The legal definition of a ch ...

founded by Bob Edmiston, entrepreneur and founder of the evangelical international charity Christian Vision; however in April 2019 the Grace Trust closed and the academy became a member of the larger TOVE Academy Trust, lead school Sponne School, Towcester, Northamptonshire. According to its Annual Report and Financial Statements to August 2012, the Coventry school received annual government funding of £5,898,000. On 20 August 2013 the school was among those named by ''

The Independent ''The Independent'' is a British online newspaper. It was established in 1986 as a national morning printed paper. Nicknamed the ''Indy'', it began as a broadsheet and changed to tabloid format in 2003. The last printed edition was publis ...

'' and the British Humanist Association as adopting a policy similar in wording to the repealed anti-gay legislation

Section 28 Section 28 or Clause 28While going through Parliament, the amendment was constantly relabelled with a variety of clause numbers as other amendments were added to or deleted from the Bill, but by the final version of the Bill, which received R ...

. The academy is now fully in line with Coventry LA policies on sex and relationship education, which conform to recent government guidelines. In October 2013, a letter from

John Nash, Baron Nash John Alfred Stoddard Nash, Baron Nash (born 22 March 1949)''Debrett's'John Nash, Esq/ref> is a British former businessman, also formerly a Conservative Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for Schools. Nash was chair of the British Venture Capi ...

showed that early access results were below the minimal standard with only 32% of pupils achieving 5

GCSE The General Certificate of Secondary Education (GCSE) is an academic qualification in a particular subject, taken in England, Wales, and Northern Ireland. State schools in Scotland use the Scottish Qualifications Certificate instead. Private sc ...

s at grades A*-C including English and mathematics – an 18% drop from 2012. An external education advisor criticised the quality of both teaching and pupil assessment. In March 2014 the school was rated by

Ofsted The Office for Standards in Education, Children's Services and Skills (Ofsted) is a Non-ministerial government department, non-ministerial department of Government of the United Kingdom, His Majesty's government, reporting to Parliament of the U ...

as inadequate and placed into

special measures Special measures is a status applied by regulators of public services in Britain to providers who fall short of acceptable standards. In education (England and Wales) Ofsted, the schools inspection agency for England and some British Overseas Ter ...

, but the OFSTED report of November 2014 stated that the school was not making enough progress towards removal of special measures. In March 2016 the school was moved out of special measures.

References

{{authority control Secondary schools in Coventry Academies in Coventry 2008 establishments in England Educational institutions established in 2008

See also

References