The Westwood Academy (formerly The Westwood School) is an

academy school An academy school in England is a state-funded school which is directly funded by the Department for Education and independent of local authority control. The terms of the arrangements are set out in individual Academy Funding Agreements. Most ...

for children aged 11 – 18 in Canley, Coventry, England. With its sports centre completed in July 2008.

History

In 2008, The Westwood School converted to 'Trust' school status with the Local Authority, Warwick University, Coventry Sports Foundation and a local ICT company. The school gained The BECTA

ICT Mark The Self-review Framework is an online tool that schools in the United Kingdom can use to assess and benchmark their use of technology ( ICT). It enables schools to identify where they are and shows the practical steps they can take to improve thei ...

in recognition of its use of ICT in teaching and learning (the only school in Coventry to have gained this award). The school was previously known as Alderman Callow School and Community College, built to serve the nearby Canley housing estate; however the estate was never completed to its original anticipated size, meaning the school has always had a significantly smaller intake than other schools in Coventry. It was designated a Specialist Technology College in September 2004. This is an area with considerablesocial deprivation. The student population is predominantly White British, although other ethnic heritages are represented. The number of students who have learning difficulties or disabilities and the proportion who are eligible for free school meals are higher than average. It converted to being an academy in August 2011.

Academics

Virtually all maintained schools and academies follow the National Curriculum, and are inspected by Ofsted on how well they succeed in delivering a 'broad and balanced curriculum'. Schools endeavour to get all students to achieve the English Baccalaureate(EBACC) qualification- this must include core subjects a modern or ancient foreign language, and either History or Geography. The school operates a three-year,

Key Stage 3 Key Stage 3 (commonly abbreviated as KS3) is the legal term for the three years of schooling in maintained schools in England and Wales normally known as Year 7, Year 8 and Year 9, when pupils are aged between 11 and 14. In Northern Ireland the ...

where all the core National Curriculum subjects are taught. There is a sophisticated system of setting into broad bands, that is driven by their previous exposure to Spanish or French at primary school, and the results in their

Key Stage 2 Key Stage 2 is the legal term for the four years of schooling in maintained schools in England and Wales normally known as Year 3, Year 4, Year 5 and Year 6, when the pupils are aged between 7 and 11 years. England and Wales Legal definition The t ...

tests. Pupils are set by ability in Mathematics and Science, and communication groups in English, Computing, RE, Geography and History. they also do PE, Drama, Technology, Art, Music & Dance, Spanish or French. In 10 and 11, that is in Key Stage 4 students study a core of English Language, English Literature, Mathematics, Double Award Science, Non-exam Core PE.They choose least one further EBAC subject: Either History, Geography or Computer Science. They can choose a further two GCSEs to create a personalised curriculum which matches their skills and abilities. The subjects currently on offer are:Music, Drama, History, Engineering, BTEC Sport, GCSE PE Food Technology, ICT, Geography, Business, Art, Health & Social Care and Computing. Most pupils will choose to study a language as an additional GCSE with slightly less curriculum time being allocated to Maths and English.

Sports

Students from the Westwood school benefit from the facilities of adjacent Xcel Leisure Centre which also serves as the head office for Coventry Sports Foundation, now operating as CV Life. These include the astro turf pitches which are used by Westwood school students until 5 p.m., when they are handed over to the public.

Notable former pupils

Tamla Kari Tamla Kari Cummins (born 27 July 1988), known as Tamla Kari, is an English actress. She is best known for her role as Constance Bonacieux in the BBC television series ''The Musketeers'', and Lucy in ''The Inbetweeners Movie'' and ''The Inbetwe ...

, British actress

References

External links