Merchants' Academy is an independent

academy An academy ( Attic Greek: Ἀκαδήμεια; Koine Greek Ἀκαδημία) is an institution of secondary or tertiary higher learning (and generally also research or honorary membership). The name traces back to Plato's school of philosophy ...

Withywood Bishopsworth is the name of both a council ward of the city of Bristol in the United Kingdom, and a suburb of the city which lies within that ward. Bishopsworth contains many council estates. As well as the suburb of Bishopsworth, the ward cont ...

Bristol Bristol () is a city, ceremonial county and unitary authority in England. Situated on the River Avon, it is bordered by the ceremonial counties of Gloucestershire to the north and Somerset to the south. Bristol is the most populous city in ...

, England. The school is funded by

Bristol City Council Bristol City Council is the local authority of Bristol, England. The council is a unitary authority, and is unusual in the United Kingdom in that its executive function is controlled by a directly elected mayor of Bristol. Bristol has 34 wards ...

and sponsored by the

Society of Merchant Venturers The Society of Merchant Venturers is a charitable organisation in the English city of Bristol. The society can be traced back to a 13th-century guild which funded the voyage of John Cabot to Canada. In 1552, it gained a monopoly on sea trading ...

and the

University of Bristol , mottoeng = earningpromotes one's innate power (from Horace, ''Ode 4.4'') , established = 1595 – Merchant Venturers School1876 – University College, Bristol1909 – received royal charter , type ...

. The sponsors provided an initial £2 million towards new school buildings and facilities, and continue to provide additional revenue support.

History

Merchants' Academy opened on 15 September 2008, replacing the former Withywood Community School. It is housed in a £30 million new build, which was erected on the site of the predecessor school. The new build consists of seven separate buildings laid out around a central courtyard and the school was awarded the 2009 RIBA (Royal Institute of British Architects) regional award for architectural excellence. The founding Principal was Stephen Kings, and the founding Chair of Governors was Denis Burn. Anne Burrell was appointed as Principal in 2010. The Academy was officially opened by

Princess Anne Anne, Princess Royal (Anne Elizabeth Alice Louise; born 15 August 1950), is a member of the British royal family. She is the second child and only daughter of Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh, and the only sister of K ...

on 9 February 2011, and an Ofsted Inspection in June 2011 concluded "Merchants' Academy is a good school where all students achieve well". The Academy opened its

Army Cadet Force The Army Cadet Force (ACF), generally shortened to Army Cadets, is a national youth organisation sponsored by the United Kingdom's Ministry of Defence and the British Army. Along with the Sea Cadet Corps and the Air Training Corps, the ACF mak ...

, in spring 2011 in its own purpose built facilities, one of the very few in a state school in the country. The cadet force is part of the vision of the Society of Merchant Venturers to provide character-building activities to students. It was officially opened by Education Secretary

Michael Gove Michael Andrew Gove (; born Graeme Andrew Logan, 26 August 1967) is a British politician serving as Secretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities and Minister for Intergovernmental Relations since 2021. He has been Member of Parli ...

and former

Chief of the General Staff The Chief of the General Staff (CGS) is a post in many armed forces (militaries), the head of the military staff. List * Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff (United States) * Chief of the General Staff (Abkhazia) * Chief of General Staff (Afg ...

General Lord Dannatt on 28 February 2014. The Academy is sponsored by the

and

Bristol University , mottoeng = earningpromotes one's innate power (from Horace, ''Ode 4.4'') , established = 1595 – Merchant Venturers School1876 – University College, Bristol1909 – received royal charter , type ...

. It has links with various partners, such as Burges Salmon and The Bank of Ireland, who help deliver work experience and enterprise programmes. In July 2017 the school received media attention for its policy of requiring pupils to wear a sign if their uniforms infringed strict rules. In 2017

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 ...

placed the school in

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 ...

due to racist incidents and "that pupils were not always respectful and tolerant of those of different faiths and need to be better information about the dangers of extremism and radicalisation".

Academic achievement

The school has had variable results on the measure of the percentage of students obtaining 5 A*-C

GCSEs 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 ...

including English and Mathematics. The school achieved its best ever GCSE scores in 2013. The Academy works closely with

to provide opportunities and support for students to continue to university. In 2014 it received an award for being in the top 20% for progress students had made in the five years from entry to GCSE.

Community

The Academy run the Merchants' Academy Sports Centre adjacent to the school site, which is open to the general public, providing outdoor sports pitches, gym facilities and sports hall hire.

References

External links

The Merchants' Academy website
*
Merchants' Academy Sports Centre
{{authority control Secondary schools in Bristol Academies in Bristol Primary schools in Bristol Educational institutions established in 2008 2008 establishments in England