Strood Academy is a

coeducational Mixed-sex education, also known as mixed-gender education, co-education, or coeducation (abbreviated to co-ed or coed), is a system of education where males and females are educated together. Whereas single-sex education was more common up to ...

secondary school A secondary school, high school, or senior school, is an institution that provides secondary education. Some secondary schools provide both ''lower secondary education'' (ages 11 to 14) and ''upper secondary education'' (ages 14 to 18), i.e., b ...

and

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 ...

with academy status, located in

Strood Strood is a town in the unitary authority of Medway in Kent, South East England. Strood forms a conurbation with neighbouring towns Chatham, Kent, Chatham, Rochester, Kent, Rochester, Gillingham, Kent, Gillingham and Rainham, Kent, Rainham. It ...

in the

English county The counties of England are a type of subdivision of England. Counties have been used as administrative areas in England since Anglo-Saxon times. There are three definitions of county in England: the 48 ceremonial counties used for the purpo ...

Kent Kent is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Essex across the Thames Estuary to the north, the Strait of Dover to the south-east, East Sussex to the south-west, Surrey to the west, and Gr ...

. Part of the main building also serves as the head office for

Leigh Academies Trust Leigh Academies Trust is a multi-academy trust, formed of 31 schools based in the Kent, Medway and South East London areas. Its Head Office is on the same site as Strood Academy, housing its Executive Team and central teams including Finance, E ...

History

Strood Academy was formed in September 2009 following the closure of Chapter School and

Temple School Temple School was a Single-sex school, boys secondary modern in Strood, in England. It closed in 2009 along with Chapter Girls School when Strood Academy was opened. History In 2006, 2% of the pupils gained 5 passes with Maths and English at G ...

, and today the school is located on the former site of Chapter School. The school moved into new buildings on the site in September 2012, which were designed in partnership with

Nicholas Hare Architects Nicholas Hare Architects is a UK architectural practice, with a portfolio of award-winning projects. These include schools, higher education, refurbishment, commercial projects, and buildings for the arts. Founded by Nicholas Hare in 1977, the pr ...

and built by BAM as the main contractor at a cost of £27 million. The academy moved into the

in 2017. Dijana Piralic became Principal, replacing Kim Gunn, in March 2020.

Governance

Strood Academy is part of the Leigh Academies Trust, a multi-academy trust, formed of 25 schools based in the Kent, Medway and South East London areas. Within the Trust's head office, it houses its Executive Team and the other central teams including Finance, Business, Marketing, HR, Engagement and IT. Strood Academy was sponsored by the

University for the Creative Arts The University for the Creative Arts is a specialist art and design university in Southern England. It was formed in 2005 as University College for the Creative Arts at Canterbury, Epsom, Farnham, Maidstone and Rochester when the Kent Institu ...

in 2013.

Academics

Key Stage 3

Strood Academy is a candidate school for the

IB Middle Years Programme The International Baccalaureate Middle Years Programme (MYP) is an educational programme for students between the ages of 11 and 16 around the world as part of the International Baccalaureate (IB) continuum. The Middle Years Programme is intended ...

. In addition to following the UK National curriculum, this "a commitment to improve the teaching and learning of a diverse and inclusive community of students by delivering challenging, high quality programmes of international education that share a powerful vision."

Key Stage 4

The school offers

GCSEs 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 ...

and BTECs as programmes of study for its pupils; while students in the sixth form have the option to study from a range of

A Levels 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 a ...

and

BTEC Level 3 The BTEC (Business and Technology Education Council) Level 3 diploma is a Further Education qualification and vocational qualification taken in England, Wales and Northern Ireland. The qualification is organised and awarded by Pearson within the ...

s. In 2018, 5% of year 11s had entries in all EBACC subjects.

Sports

When the school was designed in 2011, sports facilities were included that could be let out of hours. A spin off company now does this too. There are multi-use sports spaces, a dance studio, tennis/netball courts and all-weather pitches.

References

External links

* {{Schools in Kent Secondary schools in Medway Academies in Medway University for the Creative Arts Educational institutions established in 2009 2009 establishments in England