Our Class of 2023 have faced unprecedented challenges during their Key Stage 3 and Key Stage 4 studies at The Canterbury Academy. The resilience, focus, determination, care and empathy which our students have shown throughout these challenges, both towards each other and their wider communities, has been truly humbling and served as an inspiration to the staff that have worked with them.
Today, despite all of these challenges and the undoubted anxieties they will have caused, we are incredibly proud to announce another highly successful year, congratulating all of our students upon their successes in the many qualifications taken, allowing them to progress to a variety of positive destinations.
The Canterbury Academy is a comprehensive school ‘for all the talents’ that has maintained and enhanced pathways for learners of all abilities, aptitudes and skills located on a university style campus for school students; we are pleased to have been able to continue to offer our students a wide range of opportunities.
We are extremely proud of all our students’ achievements across our pillars of excellence in academic learning, sport, performing arts, practical learning and enterprise education, and our area wide work in youth, community and extended service.
The Simon Langton Grammar stream at the school, which is for students whose gifts are academic (amongst others) again performed very well and obtained some top grades, with these students progressing to positive destinations. A number of those students who did incredibly well benefitted from a coaching relationship with the University of Oxford’s St Hugh’s College. This included support and guidance from current Oxford students and academics. Their results are the product of their hard work, commitment and focus, supported by their teachers.
We are delighted that once again many have benefitted from the close relationship with Simon Langton Boys’ Grammar School and will now be going on to study predominantly A Levels, with the aim to progress on to Russell Group universities. Some of our students’ successes include; Isobel and Adam who achieved ten GCSE’s at grade 7 and above and Henrique, Amber, Jamie and Oni who achieved nine GCSE’s at grade 6 and above.
In sport, students at The Canterbury Academy receive exceptional support and a record number of our Year 11 students will become part of our established Sixth Form Sport Academies this year. We run specialist programmes in athletics, basketball, cricket, football, golf, hockey, netball, rugby, and triathlon which cater for over a hundred committed sports performers. We regularly provide opportunities for senior school students to access parts of these programmes. Jake, Harry, Piers, Daniel, and Fin all represented the under 18 rugby side last year, Millie-Rae played for the under 18 netball team, while Harry captained the under 18 cricket side and played for Kent u18 this summer.
Other students have excelled away from the school. We were particularly impressed by Alex, who completed a gruelling 14-day Nordic Ski Tour as part of an Army Cadet challenge. Harry represented England at under 18 level for outdoor bowls and was part of a team that won an international event this summer. Squash player, Amber, continued to perform well at national level. We are looking forward to welcoming all of our students back in September where they will be able to access a new floodlit multi-sport hard court area which will complement our outstanding on-site sports facilities.
In Performing Arts, we had over four hundred students performing in the Christmas Cabaret, the terms continued to bring outstanding successes for our students. ‘Matilda’ at The Gulbenkian in March, (with our Junior Institute performers) was our most professional, largest performance to date and was hugely successful. Over two hundred students were involved in the process, from Year 3 at The Canterbury Primary School to our Year 10 students at the Academy. Our Production Arts students designed sets, costumes and lighting and the sense of teamwork and community was wonderful.
Students also appeared in performed to sell-out audiences at The Gulbenkian Theatre in ‘The Wizard of Oz’. This was a ‘whole Trust’ affair with students appearing from Year 2, all the way through to Year 14. We also had amazing dance and music shows, along with our elite sixth formers wowing us with ‘Les Misérables,’ ‘Head Over Heels’, ‘Table’ and ‘Cruella’!
Our students continue to audition for professional works and have gained roles in numerous professional castings, including a video for Christina Aquilera, commercials for McDonald’s, ‘An Inspector Calls’ at The Marlowe and a documentary on Channel 5. We are incredibly proud to also share with you, that seven of our students will be appearing in a play called ‘The Trials’ this month at The Marlowe Theatre from 31st August; so, grab your tickets and come and support these wonderful young people. The destinations for some of our performing arts students are first class. We have students leaving us for Guildford School of Acting, Laban, The New York Film Academy, Reynolds, and Bird College just to name a few and we’re sure you’ll be seeing them on TV and in theatres in the years to come!
Students within the Practical Pillar have excelled in their subject areas and most will be progressing with us to continue their journey as part of our Sixth Form. A huge congratulations to Rebecca, Chloe and Lillia gaining an A* in Child Development. In Hair and Beauty, a high number of students were graded with merits and above. Well done to Faye and Grace who have gained apprenticeships in salons. Students within Textiles have secured high grades; a massive well done to Layla, Laura, Katie, and Feli. A number of our students have secured specialist apprenticeships: Olivia will be going to Hatpury College to study equine management, Emily is joining the Fashion Retail Academy and Katie will be studying Horticulture.
The school continues to enjoy growing popularity, with increased numbers seeking to join it and its Grammar stream supported by Simon Langton Grammar School for Boys, which goes from strength to strength. The school has the largest sixth form in Kent and we are delighted that so many of our current Year 11 children will be staying on with us. We also have our highest number of students ever going onto university this summer, including Russell Group and Oxbridge. The students achieved tremendous success in sport at local, regional and national level; remarkable successes in the performing arts, with students of all ages appearing on stage, screen and TV; various successes were also achieved within practical learning.
We are exceptionally proud of our students’ achievements and wish them every success with the next stage of their lives.