| Motto | "Proud to belong" |
|---|---|
| Type | academy |
| Principal | Andy Hemmings |
| Specialism | Business and Communications |
| Location | London Road Bushey Hertfordshire WD23 3AA England |
| DfE URN | 117581 |
| Ofsted | Reports |
| Students | 820 |
| Gender | Mixed |
| Ages | 11–18 |
| Website | thebusheyacademy.org |
The Bushey Academy is an academy in Bushey, Hertfordshire, UK, which opened in September 2009 to replace Bushey Hall School. The principal is Andy Hemmings, who joined Bushey Hall School in January 2009. The academy is co-sponsored by businessman David Meller and Sir John Lawes School in Harpenden. The academy is benefitting from a number of planned refurbishments such as a media studies suite/ TV studio, a designated student services area and internet cafe.
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The school descends from a technical school in Watford, while the site it now occupies was originally a private junior boarding school.
Watford was a local pioneer in technical education, restructuring its School of Art, Science and Commerce in 1922, and establishing a Junior Technical School in the old public library building on Queen's Road in 1929. In the following year, these were brought together in the Watford Technical School, with an annexe to the old library building opened by Lord Eustace Percy, an advocate of technical education. Inspectors praised the school in 1934 for its high employment rate among the skilled trades. It became a prestigious selective school, though behind Watford Grammar School for Boys and Watford Grammar School for Girls. Ambitious expansion plans were drawn up by the county council, but were shelved on the outbreak of the Second World War.[1]
Around 1960 the Watford Technical High School moved to cheaply constructed buildings on the north side of Bushey Hall Road. The Queen's Road site has since been demolished to make way for the Harlequin Shopping Centre. When the school became a comprehensive in 1971, it was renamed Bushey Hall School. The new school was simply a continuation of its predecessor, with no change in students, staff, and no special measures. Both road and school were named after the original Bushey Hall, which was located just to the north on Aldenham Road, and is now the site of a leisure centre and golf course.[2]
The school relocated to the London Road site in 1987. A housing estate and caravan site now occupy the Bushey Hall Road site.
The current site is the location of the former Bushey Manor.[3] The buildings were erected in 1928 to house the Royal Masonic School for Boys junior school, which opened in the following year. The school was designed to house 400 boarders in a line of four buildings connected by a covered walkway, across the quadrangle from the main building. The other buildings on the quadrangle were the dining hall (on the east side) and the teaching block (west).[4][5][6] Due to falling rolls, the junior school closed in 1970. The site was then home to Grange Park School (a secondary school for boys) until it closed in 1987, when Bushey Hall School moved to the site.[7]
Bushey Hall School attained grant maintained status in the mid-1990s, converting to a foundation school when grant maintained status was abolished in 1999. Since to the introduction of partial selection in several other schools in southwest Hertfordshire in mid-1990s, the school's intake has been skewed toward the lower end of the ability range.[8] Results at the school have been poor for several years and the school was placed in special measures in April 2008 following an Ofsted inspection in March 2008.[9][10][11] As part of its improvement measures it is seeking academy status.[11][12]
Students from Bushey Hall and Bushey Meads School appeared as extras in My Dad's the Prime Minister. The school provides a venue for community activities such as the Bushey Festival[13] and the Bushey Symphony Orchestra.[14] The school also participated in the Watford 10k Fun Run.[15]