Aylesbury Vale Academy

The Aylesbury Vale Academy, formerly Quarrendon School, was Buckinghamshire's first Academy. It is a Church of England Academy with the Anglican Diocese of Oxford as the primary sponsor and Buckinghamshire Council as a co-sponsor.

The Aylesbury Vale Academy
Address
Paradise Orchard, Berryfields

Aylesbury
,
Buckinghamshire
,
HP18 0WS

England
Coordinates51.8268°N 0.8228°W / 51.8268; -0.8228
Information
TypeAcademy
MottoRespect | Aspiration | Resilience
Religious affiliation(s)Church of England
Established2009
Local authorityBuckinghamshire
Department for Education URN135879 Tables
OfstedReports
PrincipalGavin Gibson
GenderMixed
Age3 to 19
Enrolment1428
Colleges  Faraday
  Franklin
  Nobel
Websitehttp://www.theacademy.me/

The academy's catchment area comprises parts of north Aylesbury, including Quarrendon, Elmhurst and Watermead, as well as the villages of Hardwick, Weedon, Whitchurch, Oving and Pitchcott. It also includes both the Berryfields and Weedon Hill developments.[1]

History

Quarrendon County Secondary School was officially opened by the Duke of Edinburgh.[2] on 13 June 1958.[3] It was later known as Quarrendon Upper School and finally as Quarrendon School. Quarrendon School officially closed on 10 July 2009.

Quarrendon School was placed on special measures, for the second time in five years, in September 2004.The school came out of special measures in November 2006, after making satisfactory progress.[4] In 2007, the school was planning to apply to DCSF to become a specialist Science and Technology College.[5]

The school's sixth form reopened in September 2008.

Buckinghamshire County Council originally planned to close the school in 2009, and to move to a new site, built as part of the Berryfields Major Development Area (MDA), with housing replacing the school on the current site. However, in 2006 there was some doubt as to whether this would happen due to funding issues.[6]

In 2007 it was proposed that Quarrendon would become a Church Academy, jointly funded and controlled by the Local Authority and the Church of England. It was also proposed that Brunel University, would become a partner.[7][8][9]

The proposal was accepted in November 2008. Quarrendon became The Aylesbury Vale Academy in 2009 and had £1.5m invested in it over the next few years. Pupils and staff at the school automatically transferred to the new Academy. The Academy staff and students transferred to the new building in September 2013.[10]

The school later opened a primary department.

Site

The Quarrendon site was made up of a series of blocks.

  • Science block, built in 1971, with Humanities on the first floor and the school Library
  • English block, opened in 1975, also contains the Sports Hall, Dance/Performing Arts studios and SEN study centre
  • Administration block with Gymnasium, Assembly Hall, Canteen, main reception and headteachers office
  • Tower block for modern foreign languages, Mathematics, Business Studies and ICT
  • Technology block
  • Music block

Most of which have now been demolished after the academy moved to Berryfields.

The new building in Berryfields consists of one building for the academy and one for the Berryfields primary school next to it.

The Aylesbury Vale Academy has close links with Mandeville Upper School in Aylesbury as part of the Aylesbury School Sports Partnership.[11] The Academy is also a member of the Aylesbury Vale Leading Edge Partnership[12] which includes The Grange School and Waddesdon Church of England School.

The academy also has close links with Aylesbury College, and sends students there weekly.

The academy also maintains links with its feeder primary schools and hosts an annual primary schools sports day.

Notable alumni

References
  1. "Quarrendon School Catchment Area Map" (PDF). Buckinghamshire County Council. Archived from the original (PDF) on 27 September 2007. Retrieved 14 December 2006.
  2. The Bucks Herald (2001) Memory Lane Aylesbury: The Post-War Years. Derby: Breedon Books
  3. "Golden Anniversary Celebrations Commence". Quarrendon School. Archived from the original on 29 September 2007. Retrieved 20 June 2008.
  4. "Monitoring Visits". Ofsted. Archived from the original on 3 December 2007. Retrieved 27 September 2007.
  5. "Improving school lays out five-year vision". Aylesbury Today (The Bucks Herald). 21 March 2007. Archived from the original on 27 March 2007. Retrieved 26 March 2007.
  6. "Infrastructure, Infrastructure, Infrastructure..." Aylesbury Today (The Bucks Herald). 12 July 2006. Archived from the original on 28 September 2007. Retrieved 26 March 2007.
  7. "Quarrendon school could become an academy". Aylesbury Today (The Bucks Herald). 5 December 2007. Archived from the original on 11 December 2007. Retrieved 10 December 2007.
  8. "School could be science academy". BBC News. 9 December 2007. Archived from the original on 13 December 2007. Retrieved 10 December 2007.
  9. "The Proposed Buckinghamshire Academy". Buckinghamshire County Council. Archived from the original on 10 February 2012. Retrieved 20 June 2008.
  10. "Academy bid approved at last after decade wait". The Bucks Herald. 28 February 2012. Archived from the original on 20 November 2018. Retrieved 23 March 2012.
  11. "Aylesbury Partnership". Buckinghamshire and Milton Keynes School Sports Partnership. Archived from the original on 5 May 2007. Retrieved 23 April 2007.
  12. "The Standards Site: Leading Edge Partnership programme". Department for Children, Schools and Families. Archived from the original on 12 January 2008. Retrieved 28 January 2008.
  13. "Boyce done good!". BBC Beds, Herts and Bucks. Retrieved 13 August 2007.
  14. "Olympic Gadirova twins 'thrilled' at school grades". BBC News. Retrieved 13 August 2021.>
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