Science Technician Apprentice

Welcome to the Alec Reed Academy, where traditional values of hard work and effort, coupled with Respect, Honesty and Kindness underpin our pursuit of excellence.

Our passion is for learning. We want our students to be excited by their experience in the classroom and beyond, committed to achieving their very best and confident about their futures.

We are proud to be an all-through Academy for students aged 3-19 and an Adult Learning Centre. Our ‘state of the art’ facilities have benefited from extensive capital funding. The most recent developments include the Arc in the primary phase and the Quad in the secondary phase. Extensive sports facilities including a Community Sports Centre are enjoyed by students and staff at the Academy and members of our wider communities alike. The Academy is fortunate in that it owns its own ‘Academy Fields’; a large section of fertile land and the perfect environment for outdoor learning.

The combination of passionate and talented teaching and support staff and excellent facilities create an enviable learning environment.

Our aim: to be an outstanding learning community where individuals thrive. By working together - parents, students, staff - we can achieve it.

OfSTED

The Academy was recently inspected by OfSTED in June 2018 and again judged ‘Good’, with an exceptionally positive report, published on our website. We received praise from Ofsted who described it as ‘at the heart of its community, an inclusive school with leadership providing excellent role models and maintaining the good quality of education since the last inspection in 2015’. Early Years and Primary Phase were highlighted as a particular strength. 

Ethos

The Academy has a distinctive and inclusive ethos which guides our work and the education of our students. The Academy’s aim as a comprehensive Academy is to prepare children for adult life and this underpins our mission to:

• provide high quality education and a thirst for life-long learning; 
• enable everyone to enjoy success and achievement;
• promote confidence and a strong sense of personal worth;
• have high expectations which will be reflected in the targets set for staff and students alike;
• harness the energies of children, students, staff, parents and local community to establish a genuine partnership with the Academy for the benefit of all;
• establish a business-like ethos by beliefs in values and attitudes such as hard work, honesty, respect and concern for others;
• provide quality opportunities for the spiritual, moral, social and cultural development of our children and young people.

Background 

In 2003, Sir Alec Reed sponsored a single all-through Academy for pupils aged 3-19. The new West London Academy opened in 2005 with modern and exceptionally spacious facilities designed by the acclaimed Foster Partner architects. Following the completion of two extensions (one to the Secondary, the other to the Primary Phase) the Academy was renamed the Alec Reed Academy (ARA) in September 2012.   Our all-through, co-educational multicultural Academy delivers high quality education within a 104 place Nursery with 30 hour provision, 3FE Primary Phase, 6FE Secondary Phase, Post 16, Adult Learning Centre and Community Sports Centre. We are also privileged to share our facilities with the John Chilton School which provides education for approximately 95 children aged 4-16 years with moderate to severe physical and medical needs

School roll

In recent years our school roll has increased, but the profile has altered with demographic change. Pupil numbers remain a priority for us to ensure consistent growth across the Academy and for Alec Reed to be school of choice for the local community and beyond.

2012-13 2017-18 2018-19 (est)

Primary                         499               585                 571

Secondary                  833               683                 707

Post 16 1                      100              211                  220

Total Academy 1432 1479 1498

The academic results for 2016/17 showed continued improvements over previous years and academic progress was made across all Key Stages. Outcomes in the Primary Phase exceeded the provisional national average in most areas. Pupil Progress measures were strong and significantly above the national average. The Academy also moved to a positive Progress 8 measure of +0.06 (2015/16 -0.1) which places ARA at least in line with the national average for performance. 

Higher ability students performed strongly with 20% of their overall grades being at level 7+ (old A grade) or above. At Post-16, value added for A Level examinations increased from -0.75 to -0.24; over 56% of pupils taking Applied General qualifications achieved Distinction/Distinction* grades and 100% achieved Pass-Distinction.

The proportion of students who have special educational needs supported through the SEN category of SEN Support is 18.8%, which is above the national average of 14.4%, as is the proportion supported with a statement of special educational needs/Education Health Care Plan. Nearly 59% (2016/17: 57%) students across the Academy have English as their second language and 11% require additional English language support. 

The proportion of students for whom the Academy receives the Pupil Premium is 34% (2016/17: 40.9%) which is above the national average. Pupil mobility levels are high; an above-average proportion of students join the Academy at times other than the usual and have English as a second language.

Services

The all-through structure of the Academy allows for central management of all support services and facilities including Finance, HR, Marketing, Helpdesk, Building, Restaurant, Security and Hygiene Services. We also operate ARA Enterprise Ltd which provides Community Sports facilities. Information about this service is published on our website.

The Academy is known to value is staff as its greatest resource and the continuous professional development of all staff is a priority across the Academy. The combination of engaged, committed, and talented teaching and support staff and excellent facilities create an enviable learning environment, where traditional values, contemporary aspirations and creative curiosity underpin our pursuit of excellence. 

As a consequence, we enjoy a low staff turnover and a higher than normal team of support staff including dedicated Student & Family Education Workers assigned to each Year Group, Teaching Assistants assigned to curriculum areas and a high investment in CPD.

Location

Alec Reed Academy is in Northolt, in the London Borough of Ealing, and is ideally located close to the A40 and M25. It has ample parking on site but it is also a twenty minute walk/short bus ride from Northolt Tube station on the Central Line and Greenford Tube station provides an immediate link to National Rail. 

Whilst urban, Northolt is on the edge of London, benefiting from fast access to the centre of the metropolis whilst being minutes away from the green belt and picturesque villages and towns including Marlow and Beaconsfield. Richmond and Twickenham are also close by.

Co-located in our building is the John Chilton School (all age Community Special School (London Borough of Ealing) which is a mixed Community Special School funded by Ealing Local Authority for pupils aged 3-17 years who may have moderate to severe learning difficulties as a primary need or as a dual diagnosis to their medical or physical need. Some of their pupils are educated in our mainstream classes for a proportion of their timetable.