Ashcroft Technology Academy, formerly ADT College, is a state secondary school in south-west London,

Putney Putney () is an affluent district in southwest London, England, in the London Borough of Wandsworth, southwest of Charing Cross. The area is identified in the London Plan as one of 35 major centres in Greater London. History Putney is an ...

. The school has been awarded with the

Charter Mark The Customer Service Excellence, (previously the "Charter Mark") is an accreditation for organisations, intended to indicate an independent validation of achievement. History The Charter Mark was an award demonstrating the achievement of ''nationa ...

Investors in People Investors in People is a standard for people management, offering accreditation to organisations that adhere to the Investors in People Standard. From 1991 to January 2017, Investors in People was owned by the UK government. As of 1 February 20 ...

and the School Achievement Award. As of September 2006, organisations involved with the school include

Cisco Systems Cisco Systems, Inc. (using the trademark Cisco) is an American multinational corporation, multinational digital communications technology conglomerate (company), conglomerate corporation headquartered in San Jose, California. Cisco develops, m ...

Sport England Sport England is a non-departmental public body under the Department for Culture, Media and Sport. Its role is to build the foundations of a community sport system by working with national governing bodies of sport, and other funded partners, ...

and the

Arts Council of England Arts Council England is an arm's length non-departmental public body of the Department for Culture, Media and Sport. It is also a registered charity. It was formed in 1994 when the Arts Council of Great Britain was divided into three separate bo ...

. Ashcroft Technology Academy is a secondary school for students aged 11–16 (academic years 7–11). The school also offers further education for students aged 16–18 (academic years 12 and 13) in their

Sixth Form In the education systems of Barbados, England, Jamaica, Northern Ireland, Trinidad and Tobago, Wales, and some other Commonwealth countries, sixth form represents the final two years of secondary education, ages 16 to 18. Pupils typically prepa ...

. The academy has undergone a multi-million pound refurbishment programme which was completed in Summer 2010. This included a purpose-built sixth-form and an Autism Resource Centre. The academy is named after its sponsor,

Lord Ashcroft Michael Anthony Ashcroft, Baron Ashcroft, (born 4 March 1946) is a British-Belizean businessman, pollster and politician. He is a former deputy chairman of the Conservative Party. Ashcroft founded Michael A. Ashcroft Associates in 1972 and was ...

. It is a

registered charity A charitable organization or charity is an organization whose primary objectives are philanthropy and social well-being (e.g. educational, Religion, religious or other activities serving the public interest or common good). The legal definitio ...

under the formal name Prospect Education (Technology) Trust Limited.

History

ADT College was established in 1991 as a

City Technology College In England, a City Technology College (CTC) is an urban all-ability specialist schoolWalter (2007), p. 6 for students aged 11 to 18 specialising in science, technology and mathematics. They charge no fees and are independent of local authority ...

, funded by donations from various organisations including

ADT Security Services ADT Inc., formerly the ADT Corporation, is an American security company that provides residential and small business electronic security, fire protection, and other related alarm monitoring services throughout the United States. The corporate h ...

(whose owner at the time was Baron Michael Ashcroft),

Unisys Unisys Corporation is a global technology solutions company founded in 1986 and headquartered in Blue Bell, Pennsylvania. The company provides cloud, AI, digital workplace, logistics, and enterprise computing services. History Founding Unis ...

British Gas British Gas (trading as Scottish Gas in Scotland) is an energy and home services provider in the United Kingdom. It is the trading name of British Gas Services Limited and British Gas New Heating Limited, both subsidiaries of Centrica. Serving ...

and

Young's Young's (Young & Co.'s Brewery Plc) is a British pub chain operating nearly 220 pubs. The company was founded as a brewery in 1831 by Charles Young and Anthony Bainbridge when they purchased the Ram Brewery in Wandsworth. The company closed ...

(who sponsored the schools "music bunker"). In 2007, the school was converted into an

academy An academy (Attic Greek: Ἀκαδήμεια; Koine Greek Ἀκαδημία) is an institution of tertiary education. The name traces back to Plato's school of philosophy, founded approximately 386 BC at Akademia, a sanctuary of Athena, the go ...

and renamed Ashcroft Technology Academy after its main private benefactor. Preceding this period the Building was the site of Mayfield School, an all-girl's comprehensive.

Results

GCSE The General Certificate of Secondary Education (GCSE) is an academic qualification in a range of subjects taken in England, Wales, and Northern Ireland, having been introduced in September 1986 and its first exams taken in 1988. State schools ...

results: percentage of students achieving 5 or more grades A*-C (and equivalent) including English and Mathematics * 2008 – 68% * 2009 – 70% * 2010 – 79% * 2011 – 71% * 2012 – 68% * 2013 – 67% * 2014 – 65% * 2016 – 80%+

A-Level The A-level (Advanced Level) is a subject-based qualification conferred as part of the General Certificate of Education, as well as a school leaving qualification offered by the educational bodies in the United Kingdom and the educational ...

results: average points score per student * 2011 – 843 * 2012 – 860 * 2013 – 881 * 2014 – 874

Admissions for Year 7

The school is oversubscribed; in 2010 there were 1,390 applications for the 210 places available.

The Sixth Form

Post-16 at Ashcroft provides students with a range of courses and teaching methods. The Sixth Form comprises Year 12 and 13 of around 150 students. Students need 7 A*-C in different subjects with a minimum of 4 B Grades at GCSE to progress onto Level 3 courses; however the

International Baccalaureate The International Baccalaureate Organization (IBO), more commonly known as the International Baccalaureate (IB), is a nonprofit foundation headquartered in Geneva, Switzerland, and founded in 1968. It offers four educational programmes: the I ...

students are required to have 8 A*-B Grades at GCSE.

Ofsted Report

Ashcroft Technology Academy's

Ofsted The Office for Standards in Education, Children's Services and Skills (Ofsted) is a non-ministerial department of His Majesty's government, reporting to Parliament. Ofsted's role is to make sure that organisations providing education, training ...

report, from 2015, gave a result of "Outstanding", the latest report in 2021 is still "Outstanding".

Homework

The school issues weekly homework for each subject from years 7-11 using th
Show My Homework platform
All issued homework can be found in the homework section on their website.

Controversies

In 2011, the academy was criticised after it was revealed that teachers' contracts contained a clause forbidding them from taking industrial action, despite such a clause being legally unenforceable in the UK. This was in addition to union negotiation rights not being recognised by academy leaders or governors. As a result, teachers belonging to the

National Union of Teachers The National Union of Teachers (NUT; ) was a trade union for school teachers in Education in England, England, Education in Wales, Wales, the Channel Islands and the Isle of Man. It was a member of the Trades Union Congress. In March 2017, NU ...

did not take part in strikes in June 2011 due to disciplinary concerns. The contract was called "draconian" by the ''

Times Educational Supplement ''TES'', formerly known as the ''Times Educational Supplement'', is a British weekly trade magazine aimed at education professionals. It was first published in 1910 as a pull-out supplement in ''The Times'' newspaper. Such was its popularity th ...

''. The school attracted criticism in September 2021 when it was revealed that the school had implemented a policy prohibiting the bringing of bicycles on to the school site, and also included bicycles in a list of other prohibited items including weapons, drugs, and pornography.

References

External links

School websiteAdmissions
* {{Coord, 51.456, -0.208, type:landmark_region:GB-WND, display=title Academies in the London Borough of Wandsworth Former city technology colleges Charities based in London Educational institutions established in 1992 Secondary schools in the London Borough of Wandsworth International Baccalaureate schools in England 1992 establishments in England