The £16m academy provides learning and teaching to 900 secondary age pupils, a sixth form cohort of 215 and includes a state-of-the-art theatre, innovative learning areas and hi-tech IT facilities. Combining Monks Hill Sports Centre and a new landscaped green space on the old site, the community is very much engaged with the school.

The design of the school embodies the principles of Wates Construction’s ‘Adapt Schools Solution’, the pioneering model which enables existing buildings, such as former offices, to be adapted for educational purposes, significantly reducing the cost of building for schools.

Dispersed into three distinct curriculum wings, the accommodation converges at the building’s ‘heart space’, a three storey circulation hub which portrays the academy in ‘microcosm’. The ‘heart space’ contains a wide, open staircase, lift and student toilets on each level. This top-lit space provides both visual and physical connectivity between the different teaching clusters at all levels of the building and also provides fantastic opportunities for display and information dispersal for students and visitors. The simple and legible layout provides ease of wayfinding for students and also provides staff with ample supervision opportunities, with the whole circulation space in the blocks being visible from the central core area.