- Location
- Stoke-on-Trent
Discovery Academy, Stoke-on-Trent
The Discovery Academy aims to provide excellence in education, to raise aspirations within its students and to equip them with a love of learning and employability skills. The academy provides accommodation for 1,350 students and is located on the site of the old Willfield Community Centre in the Bentilee neighbourhood of Stoke-on-Trent.
The building design envisages a faculty-based organisation in which subject areas are co-located to foster collaboration and project-based learning opportunities within distinctly identifiable teaching clusters.
The main entrance welcomes the staff, pupils and visitors into a dramatic double height ‘agora’ open space. From there, a clear circulation spine provides horizontal access to all areas of the building. The more public zones are distinct from the secure teaching environments, which include communications, numeracy, humanities, sciences and design and technology. Cross-school accommodation includes music and drama facilities, a sports hall, associated dance and fitness studios and a learning resource centre. These elements are located to allow ease of use by the community.