Julian Smith MP helps celebrate continued success at The Skipton Academy
Julian Smith MP helps celebrate continued success and the completion of the £3 million building project at The Skipton Academy
The Skipton Academy were pleased to welcome Julian Smith to help them celebrate the handover of the buildings which have been renovated and refurbished in a multi million pound project that was completed today. The project has seen renovations to the historic “house block” once the home of the Dewhurst family and a grade two listed building which have secured the fabric of the buildings for the next generation. In addition there have been modernisations to all other areas of the school with the Science and Gym blocks having completely new curtain walls, windows and roofing fitted.
Mr McManus Principal at The Skipton Academy said “It was fitting that the buildings were handed back this week as we welcome a record number of students back to the school after the summer break. As a school which continues to grow and improve it is wonderful that the building stock at the school has received significant investment from the DfE. The financial investment and record numbers of students joining in Year7 this year show that the local community and the DfE recognise the improvements the school has made in recent years. When I first joined the school I made a promise to the community that we would achieve transformational change for a school going through a difficult time. Four years later we have improved in every way and now the school is a vibrant and exciting place for students with first class learning environments to match the other improvements. We can also see that our partnership with Ilkley Grammar School as part of Moorlands Learning Trust continues to benefit our students as not only have we seen one of our former students elected Head Student at IGS’s 6th Form this year we have also seen growing numbers of our Y11 students this year joining IGS to study in Post 16. This strong partnership continues to benefit the staff and students at The Skipton Academy and we know that the school will continue to grow in number and achieve even greater success for its students.”
During his visit Mr Smith had a tour of the school and hosted a question and answer session with student representatives on topics such as the environment, vaccinations for teenagers and a range of local issues. At the symbolic cutting of the ribbon Julian Smith MP said ‘It was great to be part of the grand opening of the Academy’s completed buildings works. I really enjoyed meeting a group of very engaged students.’
The CEO of Moorlands Learning Trust Helen Williams said “This really feels like a watershed moment for The Skipton Academy (TSA), where after more success in this summer’s GCSE results, we now have our largest Year 7 intake for many, many years, with 110 students starting at TSA, 8 new, additional staff joining the academy this September and the completion of over £3 million of DfE capital investment in the school.
Despite the challenges of Covid-19 over the last 18 months, TSA continues to go from strength to strength; to see a former TSA student achieve the accolade of becoming IGS’s Head Student from a 6th form of well over 400 students, speaks volumes about the calibre of TSA and its students, as well as the opportunities that TSA students now have as part of Moorlands Learning Trust, where TSA students now have preferential out of area admissions priority for Ilkley Grammar School’s 6th form.
Whether moving on to IGS, Craven College or other Post 16 destinations, we continue to see more and more students achieve fantastic outcomes at Year 11 and now look forward to the further successes and improvements which we know will continue to happen over the coming years at TSA.
I’d like to take this opportunity to say thank you and well done to Mr McManus and the fantastic TSA staff team for all their hard work over the past few years in bringing the school to this point and thank you to our wonderful students and their parents who continue to support and champion the school on its continued journey to Outstanding. Here’s to an amazing 2021-22!”
