Our school motto is “Quality for All”

The Albany School is a mixed 11-16 secondary school, based in Hornchurch with a Business and Enterprise specialism, which has recently secured academy trust status. It caters for nearly 1,000 pupils and administers a budget in excess of £5 million. In the 2011 Summer GCSE results The Albany School achieved 65% of pupils with 5+ GCSE A*-C grades, our third successive year of growth. This represents a total increase of 18% over the last three years.

The Governors seek to appoint an individual who will lead the school from an OFSTED satisfactory to good and ultimately to outstanding. The Governing Body is committed to further develop the educational success achieved to date and will support a Head Teacher prepared to move the school to a higher level.

Our future aspirations are to ensure that we enable students to learn through the use of new technologies, to utilise Academy status wisely and to build on our success as a specialist school. Our learning vision is encapsulated in our school motto and the skill set that we expect our students to aspire to. Our specialism continues to be a major lever for change, enabling CPD, outreach and innovation to impact on achievement and learning. The capacity to lead change within the school is good and we are striving to make this outstanding.

The Albany School is a well maintained school. Our location is excellent with wide open spaces and can be compared to a tranquil oasis within a thriving urbanised community. We are committed to empowering our students to become lifelong learners and believe that personalised learning along with the acquisition of independent learning and thinking skills and the embracing of social and moral aspects of development will enable them to achieve their full potential. We specialise in helping young people raise their aspirations to develop their full potential as members of society.

We want them to leave us as valued members of our community, able to make a significant contribution to our future during their education with us and once they have left us as articulate, confident young people able to make good, informed decisions about their future choices. All their skills are nurtured, encouraged and celebrated.

Our ethos centres on the belief that every individual deserves respect and that young people are educated in an environment where relationships are key. The ‘respect’ agenda is fundamental to us being a happy school where active citizenship and social communication are crucial to being successful. If the school community feels safe, secure and valued and success is celebrated at every level then the school will continue to thrive. We pride ourselves on truly being an Investor in People and Careers as well as a Business and Enterprise Specialist School. ASTs and leaders of core subjects have enabled coaching and support across the school and in collaboration with some of our partner schools. The school, supported by Ofsted, the LA and our SIP recognise the tremendous achievements that are based around the vision and strategies to manage change.

Through community cohesion and our school provision we will continue to serve the community and the local area. With that in mind, the school is involved in the establishment of a sustainable community focused multi use activity hub through the development of floodlit outdoor facilities in partnership with the Hylands Community Amateur Sports Club. The proposed project presents an exciting development for the school and more details can be provided on request.

The use of more innovative qualifications has led to an increase in our vocational footprint. We believe our recent initiatives at Key Stage 3 to integrate the curriculum and our ongoing plans to reform Key Stage 4 have helped us on our change management journey to building an even more successful school.

Student engagement is at the heart of all we do. The proposed student learning ambassadors and student curriculum advisors will ultimately provide a strong student voice that informs all current and future whole school development. This will form the basis of ensuring student voice is the lead not just an ‘add on’ to the school decision making process. The student leader body has become an integrated part of our school. This is being further developed to ensure student leaders and indeed all students have a powerful voice in the school.

Our focus on the role of extra-curricula opportunities and trips plays a key part in The Albany ethos and forms a particular strength as a tool for developing our young learners in diverse environments. Groups such as the designated Scout Group and Duke of Edinburgh award unit have seen growth over the last couple of years as the desire to have a varied CV during one’s educational life becomes essential to compete with peers.

The Governing Body is confident that the ideal candidate will have a clear vision, strong leadership skills, lead by example and be gifted with a committed passion towards improving the educational achievement of the school, while further developing the existing school community, which consists of teachers, support staff, pupils and parents / carers.

Our ethos centres on “academic excellence and care for each child”

September 2011