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 Creative may refer to: *Creativity, phenomenon whereby something new and valuable is created * "Creative" (song), a 2008 song by Leon Jackson * Creative class, a proposed socioeconomic class * Creative destruction, an economic term * Creative dir ...

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 repla ...

. As a non-selective school the school does not insist on prospective pupils passing the

eleven-plus The eleven-plus (11+) is a standardized examination administered to some students in England and Northern Ireland in their last year of primary education, which governs admission to grammar schools and other secondary schools which use academ ...

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 in nearby Canterbury.

History

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

. 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 Te ...

and judged by the government as failing. In March 2011, building started work on a new replacement building, this was carried out by

Carillion Carillion plc was a British multinational construction and facilities management services company headquartered in Wolverhampton in the United Kingdom, prior to its liquidation in January 2018. Carillion was created in July 1999, following ...

(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 Biomass is plant-based material used as a fuel for heat or electricity production. It can be in the form of wood, wood residues, energy crops, agricultural residues, and waste from industry, farms, and households. Some people use the terms biom ...

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, operati ...

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 Dartford is the principal town in the Borough of Dartford, Kent, England. It is located south-east of Central London and is situated adjacent to the London Borough of Bexley to its west. To its north, across the Thames estuary, is Thurrock ...

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