Teacher of Design Technology

West Lakes Academy in Egremont, Cumbria, provides education to children from 11 to 18 years old. We opened in September 2008 and moved into our brand new building in March 2012. As an academy, we are independently governed but state funded and free to all children. Like other schools, we are subject to normal OFSTED inspections and work with the Local Education Authority in relation to issues such as admissions.

Our vision is to succeed in ‘Changing Lives through Learning’ by providing the very best possible educational opportunities for young people in West Cumbria. We have extremely high hopes for all of our students and our highly skilled and enthusiastic members of staff encourage children to have high ambitions and to work hard to achieve these.

Students and staff benefit from fantastic facilities, outstanding IT resources, a £300k engineering facility, performing and expressive arts suite and a brand new eco science lab in our brilliant £26m building. All this makes West Lakes Academy one of the best possible places in which to study. Our excellent environment helps keep motivation and morale high and allows us to deliver modern approaches to learning using the latest technologies.

We are sponsored by two of the most important energy organisations in the UK and two of Cumbria’s largest employers; The Nuclear Decommissioning Authority and Sellafield Ltd. They provide invaluable resources and industry support to our specialism in Science. We also receive excellent higher education expertise from our education partner, the University of Central Lancashire.

The academy was last inspected by Ofsted in March 2017 and was judged ‘Outstanding’ in all areas of the inspection. We have a strong record of academic excellence and our standards are high; our GCSE results are in the top 20% nationally, whilst our A Levels are in the top 10%. We are never satisfied however and are always looking for improvements and evidence-based best practise to build on these outstanding results. We have an ambitious and inspiring curriculum, delivered by subject experts in the classroom and enhanced by a strong tradition of extra-curricular activities. We frequently  achieve county and national success in many areas such as performing arts and a variety of sports. All students at West Lakes Academy access a broad and balanced curriculum, learning knowledge that empowers them to take their place in society once they leave us.

The hard work of our pupils and the dedication of our skilled members of staff enable us to provide students with the education they need for a successful and happy future.