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Performing small miracles every day
It’s early morning at the City Academy Bristol. A few pupils shuffle in quietly to log on to one of the many computer ‘break out’ zones dotted around the impressive new campus.
Term ends tomorrow but there’s clearly still lots of hard work to be done.
Peer through the office window of the Principal, Ray Priest, and you’ll spot him busily replying to emails from some of his students.
Not complaints, or abuse, but happy birthday messages. Ray was 50 years young yesterday.
"I reply to every mail," he says. "Normally I get 30 a day, but yesterday I had ten times as many, all wishing me well so I’m writing back to thank each one. There were one or two cheeky ones though…"
Mr Priest and his team have found themselves at the helm of a small educational miracle in this diverse and challenging area of Bristol, boosting attendance and improving exam results since it opened in September 2003.
Smart new buildings, partly funded by private sponsors, have risen as beacons of hope in one of the most deprived wards in the country.
As well as facilities befitting an academy with specialist sports college status - such as a fully-fitted gym and enormous sports hall - there are drama and music studios, and dozens of spacious and well-equipped classrooms and labs.
Mr Priest was closely involved in the design process. He said he wanted to create a ‘feeling of space - intimate, but not crowded.’
All the classrooms have large internal windows so anyone passing can see what’s going on. "There’s no secrets here, nothing is hidden," he says, "and no dark corners where young people could be bullied."
Seriously
The 1250 pupils who study here all come from within 1.3 kilometres of the school. Three children apply for every available place and there are 150 currently on the waiting list. This demand for places means the kids take it seriously, Mr Priest says, and gives him some power with misbehaving pupils.
Some re-branding has gone on - the library has become the Discovery Centre and traditional school ‘houses’ are now known as learning villages - but the Principal insists that the changes behind city academies are not purely cosmetic.
"The new buildings are important because they give everyone the idea that education is important, but we started to turn things round before they were built.
"The ethos of our academy is about active learning and about being a team and learning leadership skills. We use the idea of sport to push through everything we do.
"Young people always want to be in a position where they feel important and where they feel like individuals."
Mr Priest admits there is still plenty of work to do.
In the classroom he wants to improve performance in maths and science. And outside, pupils are currently involved in landscaping the playing fields as there is almost no outdoor space for the youngsters to left off steam.
Mr Priest, who was head of the St George Community College which used to stand on the same site, knows every pupil by name - "well, almost every one", he concedes - and greets them at the gate each morning, hurrying along the latecomers and reminding others to smooth down collars and fasten ties.
But he does it all with a smile which reflects the positive attitude which seeps into everything this city academy does.
"We want our pupils to reach for the stars," he says, "but if they miss they can still land on the moon and that’s a special place too."
Important links
- See our special education section with the latest on the new White Paper
- Watch our short film on the City Academy Bristol
The City Academy, Bristol - facts and figures
Operates as a specialist sports college- Cost £27 million to build and opened in September 2003
- Sponsored by local businesses including Bristol City Football Club
- More than 1200 students all from within 1.3kms of the campus
- Located in 19th most economically-deprived ward in England and Wales
- 62 per cent of the pupils come from ethnic minorities
- 52 per cent pass rate at A-C GCSE in 2005 - a 18 per cent rise
- 93 per cent attendance record
- 18 per cent of students go onto university
What are City Academies?
- Described by the government as a ‘new type of school‘, all academies are located in disadvantaged areas and often replace failing schools.
- Their aim is to ‘break the cycle of underachievement in areas of social and economic deprivation’
- To become an academy, a school must raise up to £2m from private sponsors. In return, the government pays the rest of the start-up costs, typically £25m
- 10 new academies opened in September of 2005, bringing the total to 27. The government is aiming to open 200 by 2010.
- A recent survey found that 87 per cent of parents with children at academies were satisfied with the quality of education, while 80 per cent of teachers believed all their pupils could achieve good results there
The PM’s view on Academies
"No wonder word is spreading in local communities.
"It is not government edict that is determining the fate of city academies, but parent power - parents are choosing city academies, and that’s good enough for me.
"The improvements and results that you have managed to achieve - often struggling against apparently impossible odds - are testimony to what can be achieved."
Tony Blair, City of London Academy, September 2005
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