Assistant Principal

Winterstoke Hundred Academy [WHA] is named after the historic parish of Weston-super-Mare, and launched as a new 11-19 academy in September 2020, admitting pupils for the first time into Year 7 and Year 12. The academy is growing year by year, and we are very pleased that Year 7, in our second year, is full, and our Post 16 applications also show significant growth.

In October 2019, the application for the Highways Infrastructure Fund bid was approved for North Somerset. One of the outcomes of this was the approval of a secondary school based in the rapidly growing Locking Parklands area of Weston-super-Mare. This school was approved by the DFE to be part of a split site model within WHA, and is less than a mile from our current site. This new building in Locking Parklands will be the home of Key Stage 3, and the main bulk of Key Stage 4. Our current site at with Beaufighter Road will then house our Post 16 accommodation, and also some Key Stage 4 courses. This model gives us exceptional facilities and accommodation across two modern and well-designed sites.

We believe in the importance of a traditional curriculum, but also one that prepares students for the learning of the future, with the importance of knowledge, skills, and problem solving, at its centre. In Key Stage 3, we deliver the curriculum that has been designed for our cohort and our learners by colleagues across the CLF. This joint and collaborative approach to curriculum design is something of which we are justifiably proud.

In Key Stage 5, we deliver a range of academic and vocational level 3 qualifications that range from the broad to the specific, and from the traditional to the state-of-the-art. Our learners know that we see education as a journey, and that preparation for the learning to come, in whatever setting, is as important as the learning that has brought them to us.

WHA is part of the 3-19 North Somerset cluster of the CLF, a family of schools which already includes:

• Hans Price Academy (HPA) - secondary 
• Broadoak Academy (BA) - secondary 
• Haywood Village (HVA) - primary 
• Herons’ Moor Academy (HMA) - primary 
• Uphill Village Academy - primary 

all of which already serve communities in Weston. Our collaboration is an important part of the life of the academy. Our staff sometimes deliver specific elements of courses in our partner schools, and similarly our colleagues in our local schools will deliver aspects of our curriculum. This has been important in enabling colleagues from across the cluster to deliver the Post 16 curriculum, in the only school-based Post 16 in Weston-super-Mare.

Winterstoke Hundred Academy is an important part of the Cabot Learning Federation, which is transforming the quality of education in this area of North Somerset and beyond. The depth of support that this provides and the level of resource available to the academy is accelerating improvement and innovation. From the outstanding teaching and support staff to the excellent leadership and our inspirational students, we all share a deep commitment to making Winterstoke Hundred Academy the centre of excellence that every child deserves.

In addition, there is an opportunity for deeply enriching cross-phase 3-19 learning of the type already successfully developed in similar CLF settings in other geographical clusters. This will particularly be the case with regard to the anticipated close relationship between WHA and HVA Winterstoke (0.7 miles apart), and our other CLF primaries with whom we work closely.