Kirk Balk Academy is a

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

Barnsley Barnsley () is a market town in South Yorkshire, England. As the main settlement of the Metropolitan Borough of Barnsley and the fourth largest settlement in South Yorkshire. In Barnsley, the population was 96,888 while the wider Borough has ...

South Yorkshire South Yorkshire is a ceremonial and metropolitan county in the Yorkshire and Humber Region of England. The county has four council areas which are the cities of Doncaster and Sheffield as well as the boroughs of Barnsley and Rotherham. In N ...

, England. It is part of the

Northern Education Trust Northern Education Trust is a multi-academy trust operating in the North of England. It was established in 2010 and operates 22 academies; 10 primary and 12 secondary. In 2017 it was instrumental in setting up the Northern Alliance of Trusts. H ...

. The school mainly serves students living in its immediate area: Birdwell,

Hoyland Hoyland is a town in the Metropolitan Borough of Barnsley in South Yorkshire, England. The town developed from the hamlets of Upper Hoyland, Hoyland and Hoyland Common. The town has also been known as ''Nether Hoyland''. That name was given t ...

Jump Jumping is a form of locomotion or movement in which an organism or non-living (e.g., robotic) mechanical system propels itself through the air along a ballistic trajectory. Jump or Jumping also may refer to: Places * Jump, Kentucky or Jump St ...

, Tankersley,

Elsecar Elsecar (, ) is a village in the Metropolitan Borough of Barnsley in South Yorkshire, England. It is near the villages of Jump and Wentworth and south of the town of Hoyland, south of Barnsley and north-east of Sheffield. Elsecar falls withi ...

Wombwell Wombwell () is a town in the Metropolitan Borough of Barnsley in South Yorkshire, England. The town in the 2011 census was split between a ward called Wombwell, as well as small parts that fell under two other wards called Darfield (specifically ...

and Pilley. The school is an 11-16 academy teaching a wide curriculum in lower school (Y7-9) with a variety of qualifications in the upper school (Y10-11), such as

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 ...

and BTEC. Construction of a new building for the school was finished in late 2011, allowing for the demolition of the old building. This made space for a new school

sports field A pitch or a sports ground is an outdoor playing area for various sports. The term ''pitch'' is most commonly used in British English, while the comparable term in American and Canadian English is playing field or sports field. For most sports t ...

. Additionally, the school changed its name from Kirk Balk School to Kirk Balk Community College, changing the logo and uniform in the process. In September 2014, the school was renamed Kirk Balk Academy, and in March 2015 it was formally converted to academy status, sponsored by the

. In September 2016, Ms Jo Nolan became the Executive Principal of Kirk Balk Academy until 2018, when she was replaced by Mr Dean Buckley.

House System

Kirk Balk Academy had 4

houses A house is a single-unit residential building. It may range in complexity from a rudimentary hut to a complex structure of wood, masonry, concrete or other material, outfitted with plumbing, electrical, and heating, ventilation, and air condi ...

: *

Rosalind Franklin Rosalind Elsie Franklin (25 July 192016 April 1958) was a British chemist and X-ray crystallographer whose work was central to the understanding of the molecular structures of DNA (deoxyribonucleic acid), RNA (ribonucleic acid), viruses, co ...

House (Red) *

Pablo Picasso Pablo Ruiz Picasso (25 October 1881 – 8 April 1973) was a Spanish painter, sculptor, printmaker, ceramicist and Scenic design, theatre designer who spent most of his adult life in France. One of the most influential artists of the 20th ce ...

House (Yellow) *

Leonardo da Vinci Leonardo di ser Piero da Vinci (15 April 14522 May 1519) was an Italian polymath of the High Renaissance who was active as a painter, Drawing, draughtsman, engineer, scientist, theorist, sculptor, and architect. While his fame initially res ...

House (Green) *

William Shakespeare William Shakespeare ( 26 April 1564 – 23 April 1616) was an English playwright, poet and actor. He is widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's nation ...

House (Blue) Each house has its own ethos, guiding standards, and routines which help develop a family culture.

Events

The school hosts a whole school inter-house

sports day Sports days (British English) or field days (American English) are events staged by many schools and offices in which people participate in competitive sporting activities, often with the aim of winning trophies or prizes. Though they are often h ...

in the last week of term each year. Students represent their Forms in athletic

track and field Track and field is a sport that includes athletic contests based on running, jumping, and throwing skills. The name is derived from where the sport takes place, a running track and a grass field for the throwing and some of the jumping events ...

events. Students also can compete through taking part in a range of other team sports, such as

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

rounders Rounders is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams. Rounders is a striking and fielding team game that involves hitting a small, hard, leather-cased ball with a rounded end wooden, plastic, or metal bat. The players score by running aroun ...

, and

tennis Tennis is a racket sport that is played either individually against a single opponent ( singles) or between two teams of two players each ( doubles). Each player uses a tennis racket that is strung with cord to strike a hollow rubber ball ...

Timetable

The school timetable consists of one set week. This provides a variety of lessons, so that the pupils receive the correct number of hours in a lesson each week. The school day starts at 8:20am and finishes at 2:30pm. A wide range of enrichment activities are run from 2:30pm to 3:30pm, and can help students to further develop their academic progress.

Ofsted Inspection

In the latest

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 ...

inspection (January 2020), the school was rated as good.

References

External links

School Homepage
{{authority control Northern Education Trust schools Secondary schools in Barnsley Academies in Barnsley Hoyland