Portsmouth Academy

The original school building was St Mary's School, built circa 1890. It first became a school for girls in 1930 as the Junior Girls Department of the nearby Penhale Road Board School. The building became one of the early casualties of bombing in Portsmouth during World War II and was subsequently demolished. With post-war reorganisation resulting from the Education Act 1944, the Kingston Modern School for Girls was created in 1949. This was initially based at the Penhale Road site, rather than the St Mary's site, and had 250 girls on roll. This figure soon increased until it became impossible to accommodate the number of pupils. By 1954, with numbers still increasing, it became clear that a new building would be necessary at the St Mary's site.

The new Kingston Modern School for Girls building opened on its present site in 1957. It cost £105,821 to build and consisted of a main three-story block with 20 classrooms including specialist rooms for science, art, craft and domestic science and a library. There was also a hall, stage and a dining area (now the foyer), and a gymnasium (now the dining hall). The site was much smaller then, being surrounded to the north and west by houses that no longer exist today. Pupil numbers continued to increase and a new extension, which is now the current Science and Technology block, was completed in the 1960s.

In 1975 education in Portsmouth was again reorganised resulting in the creation of the City of Portsmouth Girls' School as a comprehensive school for girls between the ages of 12 and 16. As a result, the site increased in size again, with a large sports field (which used to be housing), a new sports hall, and another new complex, which is now the humanities block.

In 1994 education was once again reorganised in Portsmouth and the school became an 11–16 comprehensive school, taking girls from age 11. To accommodate additional numbers, another new block for teaching Modern Foreign Languages and Technology was added, together with the all-weather multi-sport pitch, completed in 1998. practice rooms, additional office space and a new changing room for the Dance Studio was completed in February 2001.

In 2006 the 'Training & Learning Centre' was built on the school grounds. This building is used by the school for lessons and other activities and is also open to bookings from the local council as well as private individuals and groups. The centre contains offices, a fully equipped Information Technology suite, classrooms and conference room. The school achieved specialist Humanities College status in 2008.

After a poor Ofsted, where it was declared to be a failing school, it converted to academy status in September 2013. The school was then renamed Portsmouth Academy for Girls. Its sponsor was the Thinking Schools Academy Trust [4]

In its first inspection as an academy, in 2015, Ofsted found the girls only academy had very strong leadership. All middle leaders, teachers and governors had high expectations for students’ achievement and behaviour. This had led to significant improvements in the quality of teaching and students’ progress speeding up. Students behaved well in classrooms and corridors being polite and courteous and showing empathy for those in difficulties. They felt safe and had good attitudes to learning. Governors were using their skills, expertise and experience effectively to enforce accountability.[4]