Leigh Technology Academy

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The Leigh Technology Academy (LTA) is a privately funded Academy for the Dartford area of Kent, England.

Mr Frank Green is now the CEO of the LTA and was the principal in its previous incarnation from 1997-2007. Under his leadership it has become known for its academic achievements and innovation with regards to the learning environment.^{[citation needed]} In September 2007 the organisation became an Academy and changes were implemented, affecting the structure of the day and the management system.

In January 2008 building work on the Academy's new site was completed and on 21st January 2008 staff and students moved in. The new buildings are designed to be light, airy and modern. The new facilities allow staff and students to build on the exceptional reputation that the LTA already has. The majority of lessons will take place in the new buildings but some lessons, such as IT and Technology, will take place in the old buildings because of the amount of time needed to retrain teachers on health and safety for the Technology machinery and to allow time for the arrival and installation of more AppleMac computers for the new buildings.

The LTA is split into four colleges: Brunel College, Da Vinci College, Darwin College and Chaucer College. Each college has its own principal and its own senior management. This structure is intended to create smaller, closer-knit communities.

Changes have been made to the teaching at the LTA: for example, many classes are taught to groups of 60 and students are taught within their college instead of classes of mixed colleges. The intention is that much of the teaching at the LTA will be structured around independent learning to help students prepare for life after leaving school.

The LTA was once named the Leigh City Technology College, one of several schools set up in the UK to house modern ideas of learning and innovation, and this philosophy continues in the Academy. The Leigh Technology Academy occupies the site of the former secondary modern school The Downs.

The Leigh City Technology College was also one of the first places in the UK to house a Cisco Regional Academy. The facility remains in the LTA and is run by Caroline Cheverton. It has been offering the CCNA course for a little over 8 years now and has set landmarks for the CCNA course within the UK. Additional courses such as Red Hat qualifications are taught and examined at the college as well as the individual elements (MCP’s) of the Microsoft Certified Systems Engineer. The Academy also has a close affiliation with a nearby centre in the borough of Swanscombe. The Spark IT centre aims to decrease the digital divide of the people of Swanscombe and surrounding areas.

The LTA also offers many IT programmes that improve the standard of learning at the school and at home. At the LTA all students have their own username and passwords for the computer system which enables them to access a private drive linked with their username and password - this is known as the G: drive. Students also have access to a drive onto which which staff can post documents and files that help students in their work - this is known as the H: drive and is accessible by all students and staff. Staff also have a number of drives themselves. Each student has a private school e-mail account.

Since the LCTC became the LTA many new programmes have been introduced, including Talmos and the Sun Golbal Desktop (SGD). Talmos enables staff to set work that is accessible over the internet and is completed using the internet. Results of each student's work are available for staff to view on their Talmos accounts. The Sun Global Desktop enables students to use the basic and specialist programs available at school over the internet, free of charge.

After just a few weeks of operation the Academy began to attract criticism from parents who were concerned about noise levels in the 60 strong classes. There were also concerns that many children were not getting the attention they required in such large classes.

These concerns were exacerbated when the 2007 Key Stage 4 performance data for England was published. This showed that on 24% of the Academy’s students gained five A* to C grades GCSEs including England and Maths. The students in this cohort had all been taught in large groups.

The LTA is currently spearheading the conversion of a neighbouring comprehensive school into an Academy. Axton Chase School in Longfield is due to re-open as Axdane Academy in September 2008. This proposal has met with fierce opposition from staff, students and parents at Axton Chase. Many are concerned at the prospect of students being taught in large classes.

Update In September 2007, The Leigh CTC became The Leigh Technology Academy.