Uplands Academy

We are a mixed 11–16 non-selective converter academy with approximately 835 students. Uplands Academy converted to an Academy in September 2022 and became a member of the MARK Education Trust (formerly Beacon Community College Academy Trust). The acronym MARK was selected because staff who work in the trust are motivated, ambitious, resourceful, and knowledgeable. This partnership provides many exciting opportunities for professional development, and the sharing of good practice across the two schools.

Uplands Academy is situated in Wadhurst, a small, rural town in East Sussex with traditional, independent shops and a warm community. Wadhurst is close to Royal Tunbridge Wells which is approximately seven miles north with its bustling shopping centre, iconic landmarks, thriving social scene and fascinating architecture. Alot of our staff commute to Uplands from a variety of places such as the south coast including Hastings and Eastbourne and also Kent.

We attract students from our local community and further afield where the smaller secondary school is a draw for some families.

Vision, Culture, Expectation and Outcomes

At Uplands Academy, it is our vision to provide the best possible education for all our students and to be an exceptional educational establishment, both locally and nationally.

Our curriculum for our students is rightly ambitious - it is as broad as it is balanced. It has a strong academic core which, where relevant, includes vocational and technical ambitions and wide-ranging choices. Our curriculum maximises educational opportunities and prepares our students to be socially and economically successful. It is expertly planned and implemented. Subsequently, students develop keen interests, a lifelong passion for learning and an impressive, coherent, and cumulative understanding of the world. All of this means that they consistently achieve highly and are prepared for future success and happiness in education, employment, or training.

We have uncompromisingly high expectations for the quality of education that our students receive, including the most disadvantaged and those with SEND. There is no room for complacency.

We support and encourage our school community – we expect everyone to make their MARK academically by being motivated, articulate, resilient and knowledgeable, and socially by having excellent manners, being accepting, respectful and kind. These expectations are reflected in the exceptional relationships that exist between our board of trustees, staff, students, parents, carers and the wider community.

Our staff care deeply - each day they strive to be positive role models, thus supporting the inclusive culture of our school environment. Our staff want our students to feel safe and happy and listened to, academically, socially and in terms of their well-being. We have a culture that is highly aspirational and ambitious for excellence in all we do, where commonalities are identified and celebrated and that differences are respected, accepted, valued and nurtured.

As staff we model what we want to see from one another and our students – we promote and expect a positive and motivated commitment to education from our students and their parents and carers.

Our standards are unapologetically high – this applies to both our staff and students, thus enabling our teachers to teach and our students to learn and excel in their time at Uplands Academy and beyond.

Exam Success

We are proud to announce that 2023/2024 was a year of great GCSE results at Uplands Academy, reflecting the motivation, articulacy, resilience and knowledge of our fantastic Year 11 students. The unverified data indicates that 62% of students achieved Grade 9 -4 in both English and Mathematics GCSE, and 39% achieved a Grade 5 or above in the two subjects.

There were some fantastic results across the curriculum, and we are particularly delighted to highlight the impressive progress made in Photography, DT, Art and English, where students have achieved some excellent outcomes.

Training

We are dedicated to developing world-class teaching and learning through research-based CPD and school-to-school support.

Uplands Academy is passionate about training the next generation of teachers and are delighted to be working with UCL Institute of Education in partnership with Sussex Coast Schools Alliance to provide professional development for Early Career Teachers.

We value all our staff – teaching staff and support staff – and recognise that our students’ progress and achievements spring from the quality of the learning experiences which, together, our whole staff can offer. Our students’ development rests on our professional development.

For our teaching staff, we design a comprehensive programme of CPD opportunities based on our whole Academy Advancement Plan. Uplands is active in the development of teaching staff from initial teaching training, progress to middle leader roles, and through to headship preparation.