Pupils united in learning

DELIGHTED with progress . . . principal David Yates

Academy’s curriculum to combine two schools
WATERHEAD Academy has unveiled a new curriculum to bring pupils together ahead of the move into its £25 million building.

The shake-up will mean that pupils — currently split between two campuses — have more lessons together before their new school opens in Huddersfield Road in November, 2012.

Waterhead Academy replaced the predominantly white Counthill School and Breeze Hill, whose pupils were mainly from ethnic minorities, in September.

It opened in the existing buildings with parents being asked which home campus they wanted their child to attend: Roxbury (formerly Breeze Hill) or Moorside (formerly Counthill).

Not all expressed a preference and pupils come together for personalised learning enrichment activities and some academic courses.

This will be expanded from September. On Wednesdays and Fridays, Moorside will become the upper school for Year 10 and 11 pupils and Roxbury the lower school for Years 7 to 9.

This will allow the academy to offer 20 GCSE and 3 BTEC options subjects to upper school pupils, while the lower school is taught English, maths, science and PE.

Transport will be provided.

Students will study English, maths and science at their home campuses on Mondays, Tuesdays and Thursdays.

The academy says the change will allow it to offer more subjects, have smaller classes, better cater for different abilities and move to an increased academic curriculum ahead of the introduction of the English Baccalaureate, a performance measure which recognises where pupils have secured a GCSE C grade or better across a core of academic subjects — English, mathematics, history or geography, the sciences and a language.

Principal David Yates said: “I am delighted with the progress that the academy has made over the first two terms. Our personalised learning programme has been a great success, the early entry results are fantastic and we are on track for our students to achieve good GCSE grades in the summer.

“We have listened to input from our Waterhead Academy Partners group and from our staff in order to come up with this curriculum plan. Staff and parents have agreed that we need to step up the level of student integration as well as raising the academic standards across the academy.

“I am confident that these developments will meet with support and will bring us closer to our objectives of raising attainment and promoting cohesion.”

Letters have been sent to parents explaining the changes, including those of current Year 6 primary children, and assemblies held in school. Parents were also invited to discuss the changes with senior staff yesterday.