St Aldhelm's Academy is a
co-educational
Mixed-sex education, also known as mixed-gender education, co-education, or coeducation (abbreviated to co-ed or coed), is a system of education where males and females are educated together. Whereas single-sex education was more common up to t ...
secondary school serving the Rossmore,
Parkstone
Parkstone is an area of Poole, Dorset. It is divided into 'Lower' and 'Upper' Parkstone. Upper Parkstone - "Up-on-'ill" as it used to be known in local parlance - is so-called because it is largely on higher ground slightly to the north of t ...
, Newtown,
Wallisdown
Wallisdown is a residential and commercial area situated partly in Bournemouth and partly in Poole, in southern England. The appropriate ward is called Wallisdown and Winton West.
Geography
Wallisdown is situated on the border between Bourne ...
and
Alderney areas of
Poole, Dorset
Poole () is a large coastal town and seaport in Dorset, on the south coast of England. The town is east of Dorchester and adjoins Bournemouth to the east. Since 1 April 2019, the local authority is Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole Council ...
, England.
School history
The school opened in October 1938 as Kemp-Welch Senior Council School and taught both boys and girls —the boys were housed in the west side of the building, while the girls were housed in the east. This was typical for a school of its time. There was a 'quad' in the middle of the school which divided the two schools.
The school became a
secondary modern
A secondary modern school is a type of secondary school that existed throughout England, Wales and Northern Ireland from 1944 until the 1970s under the Tripartite System. Schools of this type continue in Northern Ireland, where they are usuall ...
after the
Second World War
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposi ...
and expanded rapidly in 1963 to house 600 students in both schools. An East Block was built onto the girls' school, housing additional classrooms, art rooms and a music room. The West Block was built across the boys' playground and housed classrooms, science labs and the boys' music room. Prior to this, new workshops and kitchens had been built. The boys' gym was built onto the rear of the boys' half of the main block (now the technology block) and the girls' gym was built on the school field and is now part of the
leisure centre.
In 1974 the two schools merged to form one large school and the age was changed from 11–16 to 12–16. Not a great deal changed at the school over the next 15 years and the school fell into a state of disrepair. Pupil numbers dropped in the 1980s and 1990s leaving the school with empty classrooms. The leisure centre first opened onto the former girls' gym in 1992 and the second phase opened in 1998. In 1994 the school opened its sixth form. Despite this, the school was being seen as a 'rough school' with many parents in the local area sending their children to other schools. In 1999 only half of the children from
Branksome Heath Middle School (largest in catchment) went to Kemp-Welch with the remainder going to either
Poole or
Parkstone Grammar School
Parkstone Grammar School (commonly abbreviated to "PGS") is a selective, all-girls academy school in Poole specializing in science and languages, on the southern coast of England.
Admissions
The school is situated in the northern end of the tow ...
,
Poole High or
St Edwards Schools .
In 2000 the school was put into 'special measures' by
Ofsted and the school aimed to improve itself in time for its next Ofsted visit or face closure. The school changed its name to Rossmore Community College and underwent a major building program to reinvent itself.
In September 2003 the school became a
sports college
Sports Colleges are senior secondary schools which promote sports alongside secondary education.
United Kingdom
Sports Colleges were introduced in 1997 as part of the Specialist Schools Programme in the United Kingdom. The programme enabled seco ...
, one of two in Poole. On 1 September 2010, the school opened as St. Aldhelms Academy under the new
Academies Act 2010. The school also came under the jurisdiction of the
Church of England
The Church of England (C of E) is the established Christian church in England and the mother church of the international Anglican Communion. It traces its history to the Christian church recorded as existing in the Roman province of Britai ...
.
In 2013, the school's new £9.8 million new buildings opened.
In recent years, the school has faced a number of issues; it became national news in 2012 when it was reported that the school had achieved the worst
GCSE results in England. In 2014, the school became national news again when it lost £1,000,000 in an online banking scam; this was the second time that then-headteacher Cheryl Heron has been victim of scamming, as her previous school in
Portsmouth
Portsmouth ( ) is a port and city in the ceremonial county of Hampshire in southern England. The city of Portsmouth has been a unitary authority since 1 April 1997 and is administered by Portsmouth City Council.
Portsmouth is the most dens ...
were conned in a charity golf event. Another issue under Cheryl Heron's time as headteacher, according to a 2015 article in
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 publish ...
, was building work that had occurred in the school, which involved "open-plan classrooms" that housed up to five different classes at a time. This was reported as one of Heron's several failed ideas; in previous schools, she had tried implementing "ability over age" classes, wherein students were streamed based on ability regardless of age, and devised a plan for students with poor attendance to have more flexible school hours. The school achieved mainstream media recognition again in 2015, when it was forced to close after a significant number of staff members called in sick and cover staff could not be found. The school's closure coincided with a surprise inspection by
OFSTED, who later described the school as "dysfunctional and unsafe".
As of 1 June 2015, the school's new sponsor, Ambitions Academdies Trust, took over the running and management of the school.
Leisure centre
Rossmore Leisure Centre is located next to the school. This facility is used for Physical Education lessons, and is also open to the public. It comprises a sports hall, gym, fitness suite and a
swimming pool, and is adjoined by a sports field and
tennis court
A tennis court is the venue where the sport of tennis is played. It is a firm rectangular surface with a low net stretched across the centre. The same surface can be used to play both Types of tennis match, doubles and singles matches. A variet ...
s.
The original Leisure Centre was built in 1992 onto the sports block and included the gym, sports hall, fitness studio and a new canteen for the school (used for parties for the public). In 1998 the centre was extended further with a new swimming pool (the Herbert Ballam pool), new fitness studio (the old studio became a bar) and a gymnastics hall which has trained Olympic contestants. The centre was original Kemp-Welch Leisure Centre, but became Rossmore Leisure Centre in January 2003.
Notable former pupils
*
Eddie Argos
Eddie Argos (born Kevin Macklin 25 October 1979) is the lead singer of English rock band Art Brut, and writer of comics.
Personal life
Born in Weymouth, England, Argos later moved to Poole, Dorset as a young child, and has subsequently writt ...
, lead singer of
Art Brut, attended the school as Kevin Macklin
References
External links
St Aldhelm's Academy official website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Saint Aldhelm's Academy
Educational institutions established in 1938
1938 establishments in England
Schools in Poole
Church of England secondary schools in the Diocese of Salisbury
Secondary schools in Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole
Academies in Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole