Student profile
Matthew
Chosen Options: Graphics, Physical Education
Career Aspirations: to become a fireman
Next Step: Matthew hopes to study a Public Services course at Runshaw College.
Albany Science College is a highly successful 11-16 school which not only provides an exceptional academic education but also strives to develop young people as confident individuals who are aware of their roles and responsibilities within society.
Over recent years the school has continued to improve and examination results exceed national averages for all measures. This success is down to high quality teaching and excellent relationships between pupils and staff and between pupils and their peers. At Albany we treat every child as an individual and ensure that their individual strengths are developed and their specific needs supported. Every child joins a tutor group when they begin year 7 and they remain in this group throughout their time with us. This allows them to develop strong, positive relationships with a tutor who quickly gets to know the pupil and provides a constant point of contact between home and school.
Each individual pupil is set challenging but achievable targets for all of their subjects. Teachers and other staff work with the pupils and their parents to ensure that these targets are met and provide support and guidance when necessary.
Underpinning everything we do is a culture of respect and high expectations for both staff and pupils. We take behaviour and discipline very seriously and adopt a true ‘zero tolerance’ approach to infringements of school rules. This includes the behaviour and appearance of our pupils on the way to and from school. We expect parents to support us in this. As a result of this approach we have extremely low incidents of poor behaviour and those that do occur are dealt with swiftly and effectively. This means that the pupils are happy and feel safe when in school and as a result attendance rates are well above national expectations and pupils make better than expected progress in their studies.
In order to maintain these high standards the school has a philosophy of continuously looking at what we do and working on how we can improve further still. We call this approach the ‘three Rs’ and it sums up the way in which we ensure that our pupils get the best possible education and secondary school experience.
Review – We examine what we currently do at regular intervals and what is happening across the school. This is done via a whole range of quality assurance processes, a key one being the Pupil Attitude Questionnaire which gathers the views and opinions of our learners about every aspect of their school life.
Reflect – What is working well and what could we be doing even better? What does the information gathered from the quality assurance framework and the pupil questionnaires tell us about the school and how it can be improved still further?
Respond – What do we need to do to make Albany even better? What actions will we take, what changes will be made and how will we know if they have worked?
This is a cyclical process with the pupils at its heart.
By following this philosophy Albany continues to improve in all areas and provide an outstanding educational experience for all of our pupils. But don’t take our word for it, come in and see for yourself. If you believe, having read this information, that Albany may be the right school for your child then come and see us in action.
The only way to truly judge a school is to see it during a normal day with pupils learning, teachers teaching and education taking place. We welcome visits from prospective parents and their children at any time of the year in addition to the calendared open evenings. Just contact the school and we will arrange a mutually convenient time for you to look round and ask any questions you may have.
Further information about the curriculum, school events, policies, how to apply for a place at Albany Science College and contact details are all available on this website.
