Royal Wootton Bassett Academy (RWBA) (formerly Wootton Bassett School) 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) ...

and

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 ...

in the town of

Royal Wootton Bassett Royal Wootton Bassett , formerly Wootton Bassett, is a market town and civil parish in Wiltshire, England, with a population of 11,043 in 2001, increasing to 11,385 in 2011. Situated in the north of the county, it lies to the west of the major ...

, Wiltshire, England, for students aged 11 to 18. In July 2011, the school became an

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 ...

Facilities

The facilities include an

AstroTurf AstroTurf is an American subsidiary of SportGroup that produces artificial turf for playing surfaces in sports. The original AstroTurf product was a short-pile synthetic turf invented in 1965 by Monsanto. Since the early 2000s, AstroTurf has m ...

sports pitch and numerous sports facilities catering for

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 ...

cricket Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of eleven players on a field at the centre of which is a pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two bails balanced on three stumps. The batting side scores runs by striki ...

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 ...

rugby Rugby may refer to: Sport * Rugby football in many forms: ** Rugby league: 13 players per side *** Masters Rugby League *** Mod league *** Rugby league nines *** Rugby league sevens *** Touch (sport) *** Wheelchair rugby league ** Rugby union: 1 ...

and

hockey Hockey is a term used to denote a family of various types of both summer and winter team sports which originated on either an outdoor field, sheet of ice, or dry floor such as in a gymnasium. While these sports vary in specific rules, numbers o ...

. The sixth form centre has classrooms and a lecture theatre with retractable chairs, also used as a drama studio.

Administrative structure

Adopted in the early 2000s, the school employed a system of phases. There were three main categories, the 'Transition', 'Development' and 'Extension' phases, all of which were presided over by an Assistant Headteacher. This system has since been abolished, after proving unpopular with staff and drawing criticism as "corporate jargon". The school since returned to the traditional method of grouping students into Lower School, Upper School and Sixth Form. The school operates a system of tutor groups, each tutor having approximately 30 students. Tutors rarely teach students from their own group. The main role of groups is to create a stable peer system, with each aiming to tutor the same group throughout their 5 years. These tutor groups change if students leave to sixth form. The layout of the school is like two 'E's back to back, and a main corridor running down the middle, nicknamed 'The Street' by pupils and teachers alike. Each branch teaches a group of subjects, such as Humanities, Arts and Modern Foreign Languages. All the 'wings' have 2 floors, that, excluding Modern Foreign Languages, Humanities and Arts, have different subjects on either floor. The Modern Foreign Languages wing used to be the shortest, under half the length of the others, until the sixth form centre was added.

The house system

RWBA's house system encapsulates the holistic approach the Academy takes to the development of its students and staff. There are five houses, co-ordinated by five heads of house, each named after the four "Bassetts": Winterbourne, Compton, Wootton, Berwick and Bassett. They compete in a year-long series of competitions that generally revolve around attaining as many points as possible. The school places a focus on charity, with

harvest festival A harvest festival is an annual celebration that occurs around the time of the main harvest of a given region. Given the differences in climate and crops around the world, harvest festivals can be found at various times at different places. ...

food collection and non-uniform days, where money will be collected and given to various charities. The house system promotes a strong family sense of identity with the house, and with the Academy, and is widely valued by students and staff alike.

References

External links

* {{authority control Secondary schools in Wiltshire Academies in Wiltshire Royal Wootton Bassett