East Point Academy is 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 ...

History

Notley Road School was originally opened on 31 August 1934 and was officially opened once the buildings were complete on 27 July 1938. Boys and girls over the age of 11 were admitted and were taught separately. Notley Road School was renamed the Alderman Woodrow School after John Woodrow the chairman of Lowestoft Education Committee, who implemented progressive educational reforms in Lowestoft. The name of the school changed again to Kirkley Community High School in 1970 until June 2010, being administered by

Suffolk County Council Suffolk County Council is the upper-tier Local government in England, local authority for the county of Suffolk, England. It is run by 75 elected county councillors representing 63 divisions. It is a member of the East of England Local Governme ...

since 1974Kirkley High’s academy switch delights headteacher
, ''Lowestoft Journal'', 4 March 2011. Retrieved 1 April 2011.New academy in Lowestoft ‘will inspire’
, ''Lowestoft Journal'', 11 March 2011. Retrieved 1 April 2011. before converting to academy status as East Point Academy for the 2011/12 academic year as part of the

Academies Enterprise Trust Lift Schools, formerly Academies Enterprise Trust, is a multi-academy trust with 57 primary, secondary and special schools in England. One of the largest networks of schools in the country, it is a non-profit, educational trust, which sponsors s ...

(AET). The students of this initial academic year received free uniforms for the re-opening In December 2014, the

Norfolk Norfolk ( ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in England, located in East Anglia and officially part of the East of England region. It borders Lincolnshire and The Wash to the north-west, the North Sea to the north and eas ...

based

(IT) formally took over the running of the academy and appointed Kevin Blakey as Principal. The main reasons ''(see 2014 takeover section below)'' behind this was the failure of the AET to move the academy out of

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 that the IT were better placed geographically with its Norfolk base to continuously improve the academy, compared to the relative isolation under AET and its other academies. On 16 October 1987, a great storm hit the area. "A classroom block at Kirkley High School was completely demolished in the destruction". The school will be refurbished with funding from the government which was secured by the AET before it was taken over by Inspiration Trust

Ofsted

According to the Ofsted inspection in March 2015 (3 months after the IT had acquired the academy) the school leadership was rated as "good" although other criteria "require improvement". Overall the academy has improved from being rated as "Inadequate" to "Requires Improvement". This was upgraded to "Good" in October 2016. As "Good" rated schools are typically inspected every 4 years, the next inspection is due late 2020, however Ofsted reserve the right to visit any educational establishment without any notice at any time for any reason/concern. In October 2019, the academy received criticism from Ofsted for the "high number of pupils being taken off academy's roll" in Year 11. A suggested reason for this is to "remove low-performing or troublesome students. While it is not unlawful, Ofsted considers the practice unacceptable." The Ofsted report mentions "‘Leaders have good intentions, but they were not analysing their data about inclusion closely enough.’". This means that common reasons for the students leaving was not analysed and thus solutions to prevent pupils leaving the academy could not be formulated to prevent pupils from leaving the academy.

2014 Inspiration Trust takeover

After 3 years under the management of the AET, the academy was placed in "special measures" by Ofsted. In July 2014 it was announced that the academy faced a takeover from the

-based

, due to the academy making insufficient progress towards moving out of special measures. A spokesman for the

Department for Education The Department for Education (DfE) is a Departments of the Government of the United Kingdom, ministerial department of the Government of the United Kingdom. It is responsible for child protection, child services, education in England, educati ...

(DfE) said: "We have consistently demonstrated that where we find failure we will not hesitate to take action – regardless of the type of school. We are now working closely with AET and the school to ensure pupils’ education is not disrupted." A monitoring inspection in May 2014 pointed to a "steady improvement" in students’ attainment and progress, saying East Point was making "reasonable progress towards the removal of special measures". Dame Rachel de Souza, the Chief Executive of Inspiration Trust was approached by the DfE about adding the academy to its growing portfolio. The DfE believed that her trust was in a better geographic and cohesive position compared to the AET, with the aim to bring the academy out of special measures quickly. (In July 2014, the next nearest AET sponsored academy to East Point Academy was in

Felixstowe Felixstowe ( ) is a port town and civil parish in the East Suffolk District, East Suffolk district, in the county of Suffolk, England. The estimated population in 2017 was 24,521. The Port of Felixstowe is the largest Containerization, containe ...

, approximately 40–50 miles away) "There’s a

geographic Geography (from Ancient Greek ; combining 'Earth' and 'write', literally 'Earth writing') is the study of the lands, features, inhabitants, and phenomena of Earth. Geography is an all-encompassing discipline that seeks an understanding o ...

logic to the change. We are ast Point Academy is10 miles from

Great Yarmouth Great Yarmouth ( ), often called Yarmouth, is a seaside resort, seaside town which gives its name to the wider Borough of Great Yarmouth in Norfolk, England; it straddles the River Yare and is located east of Norwich. Its fishing industry, m ...

, where we have the primary academy. I think that’s what can make the difference." In September 2014 the Principal (Neil Powell) and other senior members of staff threatened to quit the Academy if the proposed takeover did materialise. This was mainly due to the disruption it would cause to the ongoing progress towards moving the academy out of special measures. In December 2014 the Vice Principal of Inspiration Trust sponsored Thetford Academy, Kevin Blakey, replaced Neil Powell as Principal of East Point Academy, when Inspiration Trust completed the takeover. Powell cited that he will be "staying with the AET" and was installed Principal of the AET sponsored Unity City Academy in

Middlesbrough Middlesbrough ( ), colloquially known as Boro, is a port town in the Borough of Middlesbrough, North Yorkshire, England. Lying to the south of the River Tees, Middlesbrough forms part of the Teesside Built up area, built-up area and the Tees Va ...

in January 2015. Following the Jan 2016 DfE letter complaining about 'unacceptably low standards' and failing to move the academy out of Special Measures, Powell resigned and left UCA in April 2016, returning to

East Anglia East Anglia is an area of the East of England, often defined as including the counties of Norfolk, Suffolk and Cambridgeshire, with parts of Essex sometimes also included. The name derives from the Anglo-Saxon kingdom of the East Angles, ...

in September 2016 as headteacher of North Walsham High School, which is administered by the local council and not the AET. In October 2016, approximately 2 years after the Inspiration Trust acquired the academy, it was rated as "Good" by Ofsted. In addition, for the criteria "Effectiveness of leadership and management", was rated as "Outstanding".

Sporting connections

The academy has many connections with sport. Lowestoft Ladies Hockey Club and Lowestoft Railway Hockey Club both base themselves at the academy. In 2000, the academy (as KHS) became a Sports Specialist school culminating with

association football Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 Football player, players who almost exclusively use their feet to propel a Ball (association football), ball around a rectangular f ...

success on 2 May 2008, the school lifted the U16

Royal Air Force The Royal Air Force (RAF) is the Air force, air and space force of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies. It was formed towards the end of the World War I, First World War on 1 April 1918, on the merger of t ...

Girls’ Cup. They overcame Bridgnorth Endowed School 3–2 at the

City of Manchester Stadium The City of Manchester Stadium, currently known as Etihad Stadium for sponsorship reasons, and commonly shortened as The Etihad, is the home of Premier League club Manchester City F.C., Manchester City, with a domestic football capacity of 53, ...

. The girls football success continued in May 2009, winning the U14 Suffolk County Cup, beating Stowmarket High School 2–1. Both Kirkley goals were scored by Hannah Walsh in the final played at Gainsborough Sports Centre in

Ipswich Ipswich () is a port town and Borough status in the United Kingdom, borough in Suffolk, England. It is the county town, and largest in Suffolk, followed by Lowestoft and Bury St Edmunds, and the third-largest population centre in East Anglia, ...

Gene Simmons' Rock School

In Autumn 2005, the second series of

Channel 4 Channel 4 is a British free-to-air public broadcast television channel owned and operated by Channel Four Television Corporation. It is state-owned enterprise, publicly owned but, unlike the BBC, it receives no public funding and is funded en ...

's '' Gene Simmons' Rock School'' was filmed at the Academy (when it was Kirkley Community High School). Auditions were held, and after much deliberation, 11 (later 12) students were picked and were subsequently taught the basics of rock music by

KISS A kiss is the touching or pressing of one's lips against another person, animal or object. Cultural connotations of kissing vary widely; depending on the culture and context, a kiss can express sentiments of love, passion, romance, sex ...

bassist

Gene Simmons Gene Simmons (born Chaim Witz; ; born August 25, 1949) also known by his stage persona "The Demon", is an Israeli-born American musician. He was the bassist and co-lead singer of the hard rock band Kiss (band), Kiss, which he co-founded wit ...

. The members were: Craig, Danielle Chapman, Jedda Smith, Jess Reid, Lauren Pashley, Lewis Divincenzo, Lil' Chris Hardman, Lily Vincent, Linde Rose, Rob Batchelor, Samanie Warren-Close & Sammi Reeve (later Katy & Toni Mickleburgh in The Upraw girl band). Simmons' eventually selected five (Hardman, Reeve, Reid, Rose & Warren-Close) of the students to perform as a rock group. The show culminated with the group opening for

Judas Priest Judas Priest are an English heavy metal band formed in Birmingham in 1969. They have sold over 50 million albums and are frequently ranked as one of the greatest metal bands of all time. Judas Priest have also been referred to as one of the p ...

and

Anthrax Anthrax is an infection caused by the bacterium '' Bacillus anthracis'' or ''Bacillus cereus'' biovar ''anthracis''. Infection typically occurs by contact with the skin, inhalation, or intestinal absorption. Symptom onset occurs between one ...

in front of 2,300 fans in LA. The lead singer of the band, Lil' Chris, was signed to

RCA RCA Corporation was a major American electronics company, which was founded in 1919 as the Radio Corporation of America. It was initially a patent pool, patent trust owned by General Electric (GE), Westinghouse Electric Corporation, Westinghou ...

records.

Notable alumni

as Kirkley Community High School Students *" King of Shaves" founder Will King attended in the late 1970s. His father, Tony King, was Head of Physical Education at the school starting in the early 1960s * Justin Hawkins, Dan Hawkins and Ed Graham of

British rock British rock describes a wide variety of forms of music made in the United Kingdom. Since around 1964, with the "British Invasion" of the United States spearheaded by the Beatles, British rock music has had a considerable impact on the develop ...

group The Darkness are former pupils of the school.Gods to return to the Waterfront
, ''Lowestoft Journal'', 20 June 2008. Retrieved 1 April 2011. They later returned to the school to open the new music wing in 2004. * Rob Houchen, musical theatre actor * Late singer and TV presenter Lil' Chris, who featured in series '' Rock School'' that was filmed at the school, went on to release two albums and four singles. * Olympic bronze medalist, Commonwealth silver medalist

middleweight Middleweight is a weight class in combat sports. Boxing Professional In professional boxing, the middleweight division is contested above and up to . Early boxing history is less than exact, but the middleweight designation seems to have beg ...

boxer and '' Big Brother: Celebrity Hijack'' housemate Anthony Ogogo is a former pupil of the school. He has appeared on many other TV programmes as a guest and advertisements for Subway. Teachers * Former Member of Parliament for Waveney, David Porter was a drama teacher at the school *

Terry Deary William Terence Deary (born 3 January 1946) is a British children's author of 351 books, selling over 38 million copies in over 45 languages, best known as the writer of the ''Horrible Histories'' series. Since 1994 he has been one of Britain's b ...

, most notable for writing the ''

Horrible Histories ''Horrible Histories'' is an educational entertainment franchise encompassing many media including books, magazines, audio books, stage shows, TV shows, and more. In 2013, Lisa Edwards, UK publishing and commercial director of Scholastic Corpo ...

'' series, taught at the school between 1975 and 1977, before he became a well-known author.

Headteachers

*April 2014-December 2014 - Neil Powell *December 2014 - November 2016 - Kevin Blakey *November 2016 - September 2022- Richard Dolding September 2022 - present - Lucy Austin

References

{{authority control Academies in Suffolk Secondary schools in Suffolk Inspiration Trust