Queensbury Academy

Queensbury Academy /ˈkwiːnzbəri/ is a mixed, 11-18 secondary school and sixth form in Dunstable, Bedfordshire, England. In September 2015, the academy was a fully enrolling Secondary School for Years 7-13. The academy has currently 900 students on roll, including Sixth Form Students.

The academy is rated as "Good" by Ofsted in its 2014 Ofsted Inspection. Queensbury is the only school with a Good Ofsted Rating in Dunstable and is set to be on its way to being Outstanding. Previously the school was rated as "Inadeqaute" when Queensbury Upper School. In the Summer 2015, the academy hads very pleasing examination results. With more than half (56%) of students got good grades in Mathematics And English.

History

Kingsbury Grammar School (a mixed-sex Grammar school) and Queen Eleanor's Grammar School for Girls were merged in 1972 to form Queensbury Upper School, when Bedfordshire changed from a two-tier school system to a three-tier system.

Queensbury was the second Grant-maintained school. The school had been flagged for closure but the community, including the local MP, David Madel, fought to keep it open and took advantage of the introduction of the grant-maintained system introduced in 1988. Grant-maintained schools were abolished in 1998, and Queensbury converted to a Foundation School. The ten years as a Grant-maintained school had seen it increase in popularity from very low enrollment numbers (as the school was due to close) to being heavily oversubscribed.

The school converted to being an academy in September 2012, and was renamed Queensbury Academy. The Academy has an OFSTED Inspection in May 2014, and was Recognised as Good and well on its way on being Outstanding. A huge improvement from Special Measures.

Principals at Queensbury Academy

• Oliver Button (2012–present)
• Jill Coughlan CBE (2012), interim
• Nigel Hill (2003-2012)
• Lynn Morgan (2003), interim
• Bob Clayton (1994-2003)
• Keith Barker (1984-1994)
• Christina Scott (1972-1984)

Location

Queensbury is surrounded by three roads, Canesworde Road, Langdale Road and Hilton Avenue (Most of the roads located in this area are named after places in the Lake District). It is in South West Dunstable, but takes children from across Dunstable and the surrounding villages.

The School Site

Because the school used to be two separate schools, the buildings are quite a distant apart and there is some duplication in rooms across the school. There are, for instance, two gyms, main halls and canteens. There are two entrances from different sides of the site, although the main entrance leading to reception in the Central building is on Langdale Road.

Until the completion of Central building, where there is one purpose built staffroom, there were also two staff rooms; one per building.

On Langdale Road, there is a staff entrance to East building (the former Queen Eleanor's), along with the main entrance to Central building. Opposite Meadway there is an entrance to West building (via Canesworde Road). 'Central' building was added in 1999. A well deserved update for the buildings has included IT suites in all buildings and new signage. Further recent improvements include new windows, a cafeteria area, an environmental centre and a covered outside picnic area for students. The Academy also has a Fitness Suite for students and staff to use.

Houses

Queensbury uses a vertical 'house' system to encourage teamwork and competition within the school, with awards and points being given to houses for various events. Each tutor group is assigned to a house. The houses are based in the two main buildings with Ennis and Rowling in the 'East' and Hawking and Sugar in the 'West'. The house names were changed in 2013, and formerly were Mead (green), Canesworde (yellow), Langdale (blue) and Hilton (red), named after the four roads that surround the school site, from 1972 to 2013. The houses compete against each other during an annual Sports Day where the winners are awarded large slices of cake.

All students are required to wear correct uniform. The ties, although the same design and basic colours have a stripe in a colour representing their house. The houses and colours are shown below. Each house is based on an influential person:

Ofsted

The academy is currently rated as Good by Ofsted in its 2014 Inspection. The previous school, Queensbury Upper School was rated as Inadequate. The academy has a grade 2 in all areas of the inspection

Teaching GOOD

Sixth Form GOOD

Leadership GOOD

Attainment of students GOOD

Behaviour of Students GOOD

References

2. http://www.queensburyacademy.com/assets/qa-consult.pdf

External links

• Official website
• Twitter page