East Point Academy

East Point Academy

Motto	To make our best better
Established	2011 (1938 as Kirkley Community High School)
Type	Academy
Principal	Liz Redpath
Executive Principal	Rory Fox
Location	Kirkley Run Lowestoft Suffolk NR33 0UQ England Coordinates: 52°28′06″N 1°43′42″E / 52.46824°N 1.72840°E / 52.46824; 1.72840
Local authority	Suffolk
DfE URN	137134 Tables
Ofsted	Reports
Students	798 [1]
Gender	Coeducational
Ages	11–16[2]
Publication	The Beacon
Website	East Point Academy

East Point Academy is an academy located in the Kirkley district of Lowestoft, in the English county of Suffolk. It educates children from ages 11 to 16.

History

Before September 2011, the school was known as Kirkley Community High School and was famous for being the home of the peanut flavoured Pot Noodle, as well as being administered by Suffolk County Council,^[3][4][5] before converting to academy status as part of the Academies Enterprise Trust (AET).

When the school was converted to an academy (in September 2011), the age of pupils it educated changed from 13-18 year olds to 11-16 year old's as part of the reorganisation of schools in Lowestoft by Suffolk County Council. Although at the time of this age range change the academy was no longer administered by Suffolk County Council, it still followed the example set by the council for the other secondary schools in Lowestoft. Pupils in school years 7 and 8 joined the school after the closure of eight middle schools in Lowestoft. The opening of Lowestoft Sixth Form College also meant that the school lost its role in the Lowestoft 6th consortium, which had operated as a shared sixth form between the high schools in the town.

The academy was placed on special measures by Ofsted in April 2013 after inspectors found that the quality of teaching and leadership at the school we inadequate.^[6] Inspectors also criticised the lack of progress which children at the school made and the behaviour of "a minority of students".^[6] Previously, as Kirkley Community High School, it was placed in special measures in March 2009, a state which continued until the school became an academy, at which point it automatically moved out of the special measures category.^[1]

The headteacher has been Liz Redpath since March 2011 when the previous head left the school following an Ofsted monitoring visit.^[1] In April 2013 AET acted by sending an executive principal, Dr Rory Fox, to attempt to improve the school. He introduced measures that include issuing detentions that are to be served at weekends for students who continually misbehave. Even with Mr Fox's appointment, Liz Redpath is still the de facto premier of the academy.^[6]

Gene Simmons' Rock School

In Autumn 2005, the second series of Channel 4's "Gene Simmons' Rock School" was filmed at the academy (when it was Kirkley Community High School). Auditions were held, and after much deliberation, 11 students were picked and were subsequently taught the basics of rock music by KISS bassist Gene Simmons. Simmons' eventually selected five of the students to perform as a rock group. The show culminated with the group opening for Judas Priest and Anthrax in front of 2,300 fans in LA.^[7] The lead singer of the band, Lil' Chris, was signed to RCA records.^[8]

K-Play Radio

The academy currently has a non-profit, streaming internet radio station. Entitled "K-Play Radio", the station currently broadcasts a wide range of Rock, Indie and UK Chart Music.^[9] The station was founded in 2005 by Martin Watters and Helen Compton, with initial funding coming from Adnams Brewery LTD. A grant of £431 was awarded to the radio station by the brewery to purchase a sound mixer and two mic-live lights. ^[10] When originally opened by TV personality Helen McDermott in late 2007, the station was located in a newly built classroom on the first floor of the academy. In June 2008, it was relocated to the KITE Media Centre, a newly built centre located in the grounds of the academy. Working at K Play Radio has enabled several young people to get work experience at radio stations such as Radio Broadland, Radio Suffolk and Talk Sport. ^[10]

KITE Media Centre

The KITE (Kirkley Innovation and Technology Enterprise)^[11] Media Centre is a state-of-the-art design and technology centre. It comes equipped with a multi-media production studio and workshops/editing suites for both visual and audio projects. It is located on the exterior grounds of the academy, providing facilities for use in media lessons, as well as being open to amateur media creators in the local community. The centre was given initial funding by Kirkley High School's governing body and has also received a grant of £20,000 from the EU.^[12] It was constructed by PJ Spillings Ltd. in association with OWL Architects, Michael Barclay Partnership, Johns Slater and Howard and was opened in 2007, 4 years before the school was converted to an academy. ^[13]

Academy Lunch System

In 2007, the academy, as Kirkley Community High School, introduced a fingerprinting system for school lunches, allowing pupils to avoid paying cash at the till and having to carry money around with them.^[14]

Notable alumni

as Kirkley Community High School

• Justin Hawkins, Dan Hawkins and Ed Graham of British rock group The Darkness are former pupils of the school.^[15] They later returned to the school to open the new music wing in 2004.
• Singer and TV presenter Lil' Chris, who featured in the series of Rock School that was filmed at the school, went on to release two albums and four singles.
• Olympic bronze medalist middleweight boxer and Big Brother: Celebrity Hijack housemate Anthony Ogogo is a former pupil of the school.

References

External links

• Official website
• Official KITE Media Centre Website
• Official K Play Radio website