PARK HALL ACADEMY
PROGRESS THROUGH PARTNERSHIP
Welcome to Park Hall Academy
striving for excellence I would like to take this opportunity to offer you a warm welcome to Park Hall Academy: a specialist Performing Arts and Maths Academy with a sixth form. Park Hall is a thriving and successful comprehensive providing a stimulating environment in which excellence is always sought. We aim to give all students the best possible opportunities for them to develop into responsible, successful and well educated adults who can participate in the community and wider world as good citizens. Students at Park Hall are motivated and challenged by its highly qualified, committed and hard-working staff. We are at the forefront of innovation and provide exciting opportunities for students and the wider community. We are proud of our Academy where high standards of work, behaviour and achievement are the norm and our students develop a sense of well-being and self-confidence. We will not flinch in our mission to achieve excellent standards and the fulfillment of high expecations. If you are like minded enough to subscribe to this philosophy, please apply. All we ask is your pledge to improve the prospects of our students and your passionate support in making this Academy the pride of the local community.
Welcome to Park Hall Academy
A broad and challenging curriculum
offering exciting learning pathways As an Academy we have designed a curriculum which is both innovative and stimulating and which offers all students the chance to develop according to their talents, interest and ambitions. We have created a broad and challenging curriculum which reflects our commitment to encouraging confident, independent learners. We offer a strong mix of academic and vocational subjects in both the main school and our sixth form, giving students the opportunity to gain qualifications and develop life skills. This coupled with our award winning new building with its state-of-the-art facilities has created an exciting learning environment fit for the future adults of the 21st Century. We offer a wide range of subjects throughout the Academy and students are encouraged to follow a programme of study which enables them to achieve their best whilst preparing them for their future. Guided choices can be made from the sciences, technology, languages, the arts, humanities or by selecting from vocational courses such as travel and tourism, construction, health and social care and the performing arts. There is support and encouragement to further the achievement of talented and gifted students and to remove barriers to learning for those with educational and other needs.
Welcome to Park Hall Academy
‘Standards are rising strongly.’ (OfSTED May 2011) and our exciting curriculum is matched by good teaching and effective partnerships with parents.
‘The Academy has successfully established a positive climate for learning.’ OfSTED May 2011
‘The Academy has effective systems in place to promote good behaviour.’ OfSTED May 2011
Progress and achievement
in a caring environment The pastoral system at Park Hall Academy is centred around our four Houses - Arden, Bradford, Jaguar and Spitfire. All four Houses have identities which are rooted in our community. Each House is led by two Heads of House, one focusing on progress and achievement through monitoring, planning and setting targets for improvement and the other on promoting good attendance, punctuality and attitudes. This means that every child receives a high level of holistic care. Within each House there are twelve vertical tutor groups enabling your child to develop alongside other students of differing ages. Our pastoral care also includes a highly qualified intervention team which offers one to one, small group and target group support through various approaches which can include therapeutic work, drama work, family support and regular monitoring. We strongly believe in partnership working with every family. Our highly qualified staff will work with you as parents and carers to ensure that your child achieves their very best whilst also ensuring that every child has a happy and fulfilling life at school. This means that we can confidently say that pastoral support at Park Hall is excellent – a view recently supported by OfSTED ‘Around the Academy, including break and lunch times, the students show consideration for one another and towards visitors, and respect for their environment.’ (OfSTED May 2011).
Welcome to Park Hall Academy
Enjoyment and success in outstanding
extra curricular opportunities Life at Park Hall is not just about success in learning. Whilst academic success is important to us all it is also important for us to recognise that schools are about more than excellent results and that students enjoy and are highly successful in wider aspects of the curriculum. In addition to offering a wide range of subjects to study, we also have an extensive programme of clubs, trips, activities and experiences for the enjoyment and development of our youngsters. Whether it is being in the football team, performing in a musical / dance production, knitting, trampolining, the radio station, debating, Duke of Edinburgh Award or any of the other numerous activities on offer there is plenty to interest and extend the skills and enjoyment of our students.
Welcome to Park Hall Academy
Recent productions include ‘Narnia’ and ’The Wiz’.Visits are regularly organised to support the curriculum and for enjoyment; students have been to France and Poland for cultural experiences, to the army, to workshops and conferences for Maths, foreign languages etc., on field trips and explorations of the local community and to events such as the Clothes Show and the Malvern Festival Show.
‘Learning is extended by varied extra-curricular activities and enrichment opportunities.’ OfSTED May 2011
Our place
in the community At Park Hall Academy, our aim is to help students to reach the very highest standards of excellence and to meet each individual’s academic, personal and social needs. We promote aspiration and seek to raise attainment for our students, thereby creating confident, independent learners. We expect students to wear the school uniform; we insist on good discipline, and we are proud of the excellent partnerships which exist between students, staff and parents. We place a great deal of emphasis on establishing good home-school links, and encourage parents to play a full and active role in supporting the work of the Academy. We are proud of the excellent partnerships which exist between students, staff, parents, governors and the community. As a large and successful secondary school we believe we have a central place in the local community. We have strong links with primary schools and we work with businesses, industry, local agencies, the Parish Council and people to enhance the relevance of the school curriculum and to provide opportunities outside the classroom. We are keen to work in partnership with companies to enhance the part we play in the education and life of the whole community. Our students really enjoy the growing network of sports clubs and voluntary organisations with which we are linked and our fantastic new building has enhanced our crusade for continuous improvement and outstanding opportunities.
Welcome to Park Hall Academy
We believe that Park Hall gives young people an excellent start in life, supporting them as they develop into caring, responsible young adults who can contribute to the society they live in.
‘Fons Juventis’ - The Fountain of Youth This design is partly derived from the research and design work produced by students at the Academy in collaboration with the public artist Steve Field and also from a case study of the existing carvings by Walter Ritchie. Both carvings – ‘Hurdlers’ and ‘Climbers’ were commissioned for the opening of the original two schools in 1951 and 1953. From the pupils’ work comes the idea of looking at the four Academy Houses, also very appropriate from an historical point of view as in each quarter of the relief a different aspect of local heritage is revealed. The ancient Arden Forest with a leaping stag, contrasted with a modern cityscape with a Jaguar symbol can be seen in the two lower quarters .In the top quarters are a Spitfire plane rushing skyward in the manner of the famous Castle Bromwich sculpture balanced by the crest of the Bradford family. From one pupils’ work in particular comes the idea of a composition fanning outwards, though the idea of a central bird motif of a phoenix has been replaced by the idea of a youthful figure and the outward movement now is developed and recalls a fountain – hence the title ‘Fons Juventis’ – The Fountain of Youth. Apart from symbolising youthful energy, the reason for the youthful central figure is also to relate to the larger figures in the Walter Ritchie panels which now reside in the grounds of the Academy. The sculpture has been realised in cut out low relief polished stainless steel as with other panels produced by the artist Steve Field which were shown to the students for inspiration during the design process. We are confident that this addition to the panels in our grounds will act as inspiration for generations to come and become a significant part of the Park Hall community.
Park Hall Academy Water Orton Road Castle Bromwich Birmingham B36 9HF Tel: 0121 748 0400 Fax: 0121 748 0414 email: post@parkhall.org web: www.parkhallschool.org.uk
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PARK HALL ACADEMY