Ark Kings Academy

52°23′54″N 1°55′53″W / 52.39833°N 1.93139°W / 52.39833; -1.93139

Ark Kings Academy
Location
Map

,
Information
TypeAcademy
MottoAspire. Expect. Achieve. Together.
Established1967
Local authorityBirmingham City Council
TrustArk Schools
Department for Education URN137578 Tables
OfstedReports
PrincipalRoger Punton
GenderCo-educational
Age4 to 18
Enrolment914
Websitehttp://www.arkkingsacademy.org

Ark Kings Academy is a co-educational all-through school and sixth form located over two sites in the Kings Norton area of Birmingham, West Midlands, England.[1]

The school is funded by the Department for Education and operated by Ark Schools, a registered charity under English law and sponsored by parent charity Ark.[2]

History

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Secondary school (Shannon Road)

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The Shannon Road site was established as Primrose Hill Senior School in 1967 and was renamed in 1993 as Kings Norton High School, to avoid confusion with nearby Primrose Hill Primary School.[3]

In 2010, plans were announced to merge the school with Baverstock School to form a new 1,000-pupil school.[4] Although a Statement of Intent was signed by Michael Gove, then Secretary of State for Education, this was later withdrawn.

The school converted to academy status in September 2012 and was renamed Ark Kings Academy.[5] A sixth form provision was opened in September 2017.[6]

Primary school (Tees Grove)

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The Tees Grove site was originally established as Primrose Hill Primary School and was later renamed Primrose Hill Community School.

In September 2012 the school converted to academy status and was renamed Ark Rose Primary Academy. As both schools were part of the Ark Schools trust, in September 2017 Ark Rose Primary Academy formally merged with Ark Kings Academy, thereby sharing an amalgamated senior leadership and administration team.

Ofsted warning

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In 2022, the school was given a funding warning after being found inadequate during an Ofsted inspection. The Ofsted report, published in May 2022, following an inspection in February 2022, said: "Some pupils, particularly those who identify as LGBT, experience repeated name-calling and prejudiced behaviour. This means that pupils do not feel safe in the school."[7]

GCSE results

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The school has generally had low average percentage for 5+ GCSEs (or equivalent) A*-C incl. English & Maths in the past, with the lowest being 7% back in 2006. Since 2006 however, the average percentage has been either been going up or decreasing by 1% each year. However, before the school turned to an academy in September 2012, the school had a percentage of 41% for the final year as Kings Norton High, beating the previous record of 32% in 2010. However, for the first year of the academy in 2013, the school had a drop to 24% which had been the lowest in 4 years compared to 23% in 2009. This was also the lowest percentage compared to the rest of the ARK network. However, in 2015 Kings achieved 51% which was their highest results percentage ever recorded. This made Kings the most improved academy in the country over two years.[8]

Track record: 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015
5+ GCSEs (or equivalent) A*-C incl. English & Maths[9][10][11][12][13] 14% 21% 13% 14% 11% 16% 7% 13% 12% 23% 32% 31% 41% 24% 46% 51%
National figures for pupils gaining 5+ A*-C GCSE grades[14] 49.2% 50.0% 51.6% 52.9% 53.7% 56.3% 58.5% 60.3% 65.3% 70.0% 75.4% 79.6% 81.1% 63.8%

Notable former pupils

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Notable former staff

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  • Dene Cropper, Footballer – Teacher (Kings Norton High School/ARK Kings Academy)[17]

References

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  1. ^ "Contact Details". Archived from the original on 25 January 2013. Retrieved 3 May 2013.
  2. ^ "ARK charity details". Retrieved 3 May 2013.
  3. ^ "Name history". Archived from the original on 31 May 2012. Retrieved 3 May 2013.
  4. ^ Savvas, Christina (29 January 2010). "New school proposed to serve Kings Norton and Druids Heath". Birmingham Mail. Retrieved 13 June 2016.
  5. ^ "Ark Kings Academy". Ark. Retrieved 13 June 2016.
  6. ^ "Curriculum Overview". Ark Kings Academy. Retrieved 13 June 2016.
  7. ^ "Birmingham school Ark Kings Academy given funding warning". BBC News. BBC. 27 May 2022. Retrieved 27 May 2022.
  8. ^ "MOST IMPROVED ACADEMY IN THE COUNTRY!". Archived from the original on 8 December 2015. Retrieved 2 December 2015.
  9. ^ "GCSE results". Archived from the original on 21 August 2014. Retrieved 8 August 2013.
  10. ^ "GCSE results (2004–2007)". BBC. Retrieved 8 August 2013.
  11. ^ "GCSE results (2003–2000)". BBC. Retrieved 8 August 2013.
  12. ^ "Results for 2012/2013". ARK Schools. Retrieved 26 August 2013.
  13. ^ ARK Kings Academy
  14. ^ "National Average for GCSE grades (5+ A*-C)". Retrieved 26 August 2013.
  15. ^ "Notable alumni – Wedderburn". Retrieved 3 May 2013.
  16. ^ Graham Young (24 April 2009). "Singing coach Zoe Tyler's looking for talent in Birmingham". Birmingham Mail. Retrieved 24 January 2014.
  17. ^ "Staff List". Retrieved 22 May 2013.
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