Shireland Collegiate Academy is a secondary school in the English academy programme, located in Smethwick, West Midlands, England. The school was built during the early 20th century. Originally called Shireland High School, and then later Shireland Language College. The school became Shireland Collegiate Academy in 2007. The Academy, and its predecessor schools has been run by Sir Mark Grundy since 1997 who was knighted for his services to education for his work within the school and its partner Academy. Shireland Collegiate Academy were in a partnership with George Salter until September 2011 when George Salter decided to join the Ormiston Academies Trust and Shireland became a stand-alone Academy. The Academy is fully sponsored by Microsoft. The Academy gained 'Teaching School' status in March 2013. The Academy was rated as Outstanding in 2011 and again following a no-notice inspection in 2013.
Inspections
In the most recent inspection the Academy gained an Outstanding rating overall and in each of the four assessed areas under the new Ofsted framework:
Achievement of Pupils
Quality of Teaching
Behaviour and Safety of Pupils
Leadership and Management
The report leads with "This is an exceptional academy, which has maintained and built upon the very high standards seen at the last inspection." ---- In the previous inspection, the Academy was granted an Outstanding rating by Paul Brooker, Lead Inspector for Academies. The Academy gained outstanding judgments for the following areas:
Overall Judgement
Quality of pupils' learning and their progress
The extent to which students feel safe
The extent to which pupils contribute to the school and wider community
Pupils' attendance
The quality of teaching
The use of assessment to support learning
The effectiveness of care, guidance and support
The effectiveness of leadership and management in embedding ambition and driving improvement
The effectiveness of the school's engagement with parents and carers
The effectiveness of partnerships in promoting learning and well-being
The effectiveness with which the school promotes equality of opportunity and tackles discrimination
The effectiveness of safeguarding procedures
The effectiveness with which the school promotes community cohesion
The Academy is notable for being the only school to go from 'Special Measures' to 'Outstanding" in a single jump.
Examination results
In 2012/13, the Academy posted the following results:
58% of students at the end of Year 11 obtained 5 or more A*-C GCSE grades including English and Mathematics.
87% of students at the end of Year 11 obtained 5 or more A*-C GCSE grades not including English and Mathematics.
At Post-16 97% of students obtained an A-Level pass at E grade or above.
79% of students made 3 levels of expected progress in Mathematics and 82% in English.
In 2011/12, the Academy posted the following results:
47% of students at the end of Year 11 obtained 5 or more A*-C GCSE grades including English and Mathematics.
90% of students at the end of Year 11 obtained 5 or more A*-C GCSE grades not including English and Mathematics.
At Post-16 92% of students obtained an A-Level pass at E grade or above.
In 2011/12 the overall Academy attendance figure was 94.6%.
Curriculum
The Academy operates an unusual curriculum at Key Stage 3. Students are taught for 17 hours with the same teacher in Year 7, 13 hours in Year 8 and 8 hours in Year 9. These groups are taught under the badge of Literacy for Life a competency based curriculum taught in a number of thematic units. This methodology is based on the Re-inventing Schools Coalition work pioneered in Alaska. There is a heavy focus on the use of technology, with over 600 students having their own personal netbook. The Academy is part of the CDI Apps for Good programme and was named school of the year in 2012.
E-learning and school based company
The Academy has a School Based Company Shireland Learning which provides e-learning support and consultancy. They are responsible for the creation of the Shireland Learning Gateway, a virtual learning environment and management tool based on Microsoft Sharepoint technology. The gateway has been used by as many as 130 schools both within and beyond the United Kingdom. This work was used as the focal point of the opening of the BETT show in 2010 and in the main address by the Schools Minister, Lord Jim Knight.
Composition
The Department of Education School Level Census 2010 lists the composition of the Academy as follows: Total Pupils on Roll: 1260 Significant Ethnic Populations:
