The Spires Academy is a non-selective secondary school for pupils aged 11–16 in

Canterbury Canterbury (, ) is a cathedral city and UNESCO World Heritage Site, situated in the heart of the City of Canterbury local government district of Kent, England. It lies on the River Stour. The Archbishop of Canterbury is the primate of ...

, Kent. There is a sixth form. The school has dual specialist status in business and enterprise, and in visual, creative and performing arts. Spires is independently governed, but funded by the sponsors and the

Department for Children, Schools and Families Department for Children, Schools and Families (DCSF) was a department of the UK government, between 2007 and 2010, responsible for issues affecting people in England up to the age of 19, including child protection and education. DCSF was replac ...

. As a non-selective school the school does not insist on prospective pupils passing the eleven-plus examination for entry, and it is free to attend. The Academy is subject, like other schools, to regular inspections, but is managed by an ‘Academy Trust’ called E21C, rather than a local education authority. According to Ofsted inspectors, boys do worse at maths at the school, and generally the school needs to improve (academically). The school has developed strong links with

Simon Langton Girls' Grammar School Simon Langton Girls’ Grammar School is a single-sex voluntary controlled grammar school in Canterbury, Kent, England. The school originated in the Middle Ages as an educational foundation for children in Canterbury, emerging as a separate schoo ...

in nearby Canterbury.

History

The school is located on the former site of Sturry Secondary Modern School, later renamed

Frank Montgomery School The Frank Montgomery School was a mixed-gender secondary modern school in the village of Sturry near Canterbury in east Kent. It was founded in 1935 and closed in 2007, when the site and school roll was taken over by Spires Academy. Foundation ...

, and is the only secondary school in

Sturry Sturry is a village on the Great Stour river situated northeast of Canterbury in Kent. Its large civil parish incorporates several hamlets and, until April 2019, the former mining village of Hersden. Geography Sturry lies at the old Roman jun ...

. The academy replaced the former Frank Montgomery School building near Sturry in 2007, taking in the pupils from the former institution, and also replacing the former school which had been 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 ...

and judged by the government as failing. In March 2011, building started work on a new replacement building, this was carried out by Carillion (management) and Gallagher (construction). and completed in July 2012. The new £13.2m building was equipped with state of the art academic facilities and also included sports buildings and facilities. The predominantly naturally-ventilated design also uses biomass boilers as part of its heat source. The building achieved a

BREEAM BREEAM (Building Research Establishment Environmental Assessment Method), first published by the Building Research Establishment (BRE) in 1990, is the world's longest established method of assessing, rating, and certifying the sustainability of ...

‘Very Good’ rating. The old building is in the process of being demolished.

Electronic learning

In 2012, Spires Academy spent £125,000 on

iPad The iPad is a brand of iOS and iPadOS-based tablet computers that are developed by Apple Inc. The iPad was conceived before the related iPhone but the iPhone was developed and released first. Speculation about the development, operating ...

s for all its pupils, they were given to 450 youngsters, but the staff insisted it will not be the end of the traditional pen and paper being used in the classroom. However, it was claimed the gadgets would revolutionise teaching and boost grades and were bought using the school's IT budget and a government grant. The Kent school is the second to provide iPads to pupils, following Longfield Academy, near Dartford.

References

External links

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{{authority control Academies in Kent Secondary schools in Kent Educational institutions established in 2007 2007 establishments in England