Duke's Aldridge Academy

The school suffered many years of poor examination results and was frequently in Ofsted special measures.[7] However, in 2013 the school achieved its highest GCSE pass rate, with 41% of pupils achieving the required 5 GCSE or BTEC qualifications at grades A*-D.[8] This means that 59% of pupils still do not achieve the minimum requirement as laid out by the Department for Education. However, the improved rate was celebrated at the time.

Most pupils live near the school in areas of pronounced social disadvantage. Overall attainment on entry in Year 7 is very low in most years; the proportion of students on the school's Special Educational Needs register is well above average at 33%.[9] The proportion eligible for free school meals is 81%, which is well above the national average and the highest in the London Borough of Haringey.[10] As of the 2018/19 academic year, the parents of 48% of pupils had registered for additional school funding to tackle disadvantage through the Pupil Premium.[11]

Boys outnumber girls at the school by about 10%. Pupils are drawn from a range of ethnic minority backgrounds and 53 languages are spoken. The largest groups are Turkish and Kurdish (at 21%), Somali (at 24%), Black Caribbean (at 31%), and Black African (at 15%). Numbers of Eastern European pupils are increasing, particularly those of Romanian, Bulgarian and Polish ethnicity, reflecting population change in the local area. Among the smallest ethnic groups are those from the Indian subcontinent (at 3.8%), Chinese (at 1.4%), and White British (at 0.6%). In the homes of a very high proportion of pupils, at 72%, English is an additional language, with about 36% of pupils at very early stages of learning English. Student mobility is a feature of the school; 28% are refugees, mainly of Turkish or Kurdish background. A number of pupils, particularly those of Kurdish background, are suspected to be of adult age. However, difficulties with verifying the age of refugees has meant that those misleading authorities about their age are admitted to the school. This has led to safeguarding concerns. The school is the designated feeder school for Haringey Council for new-arrivals in the United Kingdom, including refugees and asylum seekers, and migrants from within the European Union and elsewhere.

Staff turnover is high, but the school has made efforts to improve retention of staff, including health and wellbeing programmes, free on-site secure parking, and provision of discrete stab vests which can be worn under clothes to protect from pupil or intruder knife attacks. The school previously participated in several initiatives under the Labour government of the early 2000s, including Excellence in Cities, a small Education Action Zone initiative, and Urban Regeneration.

The school suffered many years of poor examination results and was frequently in Ofsted special measures.[12] However, by the mid-2000s the school had been rated as 'satisfactory' with several 'good' features.[13]

The school has suffered from crime and anti-social behaviour on and around its premises since its foundation, but particularly from the late 1990s onwards. By the mid-2000s, knife-related incidents had become commonplace, including an incident which led to the departure of Andy Kilpatrick as Headteacher in which a knife was held to his throat by a Year 10 pupil. Kilpatrick later received an OBE for his work at Northumberland Park.[14] According to a local authority report, several leading criminal figures were "cultivated" in the school, including Khalid Mohamed Omar Ali,[15] the Whitehall terror suspect, and Reece Dempster, the murderer and rapist who received a life sentence, a rarity in the UK.[16] The high prevalence of gang membership among the pupil body and within the wider local area of Tottenham also presents challenges for the school, with safeguarding concerns around how gangs operate within the school, exploiting younger pupils who join their ranks.

To quell concerns of violence, the school initiated several intervention programmes in the late 2000s focused on its Black Caribbean, Black African, Somali, Turkish/Kurdish, and Eastern European (specifically Romanian and Bulgarian) ethnic groups. The school also established new academic attainment programmes for these pupils to provide additional support with their learning, as well as a stream for minority ethnic groups in the school (namely those of Indian subcontinent origin and Chinese pupils). This led to concerns around a lack of support for White British pupils, who were the school's smallest ethnic group at 0.6% and were the only group not to receive this additional support.

To further help combat the prevalence of violence on school premises, knife arch metal detectors were installed at all pupil entrances, and the Metropolitan Police began to maintain a permanent presence on site. The school had previously received visits from a dedicated schools officer as part of the Met's Safer Schools Partnership, which sees a Police Constable attached to local secondary schools,[17] but concerns were raised regarding officer safety in the school. To this end, a new approach was established outside of the Safer Schools Partnership, with a Police Sergeant and several Police Constables stationed at the school during the day. A knife drop bin was installed in the boys toilets out of the view of CCTV in 2017, to allow pupils to safely dispose of knives without fear of punishment.

The school was partially redeveloped as part of the Building Schools for the Future programme, which included the construction of a new Internal Exclusion Unit and Art Block, the installation of new library and computing facilities, and a redecoration of parts of the school which were not redeveloped. Improvements were made to the playground surface, with new Astroturf laid on the football pitch, and a repainting of the school's locally-infamous 16 ft wall from purple to dark blue. New CCTV, security and fire alarms, and entry systems were also installed.

The school's colours were previously purple and yellow, however a decision was taken to change this owing to association with the local NPK (Northumberland Park Kings) gang, who themselves had based their colours on the school's uniform. The school colours are now turquoise and white, in line with Aldridge Education branding.

The school uniform includes a purple sweatshirt and white or lilac polo shirt. Pupils wear grey or black trousers or jogging bottoms, or a grey or black skirt. Pupils do not have to wear uniform with the school logo on to reduce costs. Shoes or trainers must be black. The school is due to change its uniform as part of the academy transition process. The school subsidises some of the cost of pupils' uniform by giving cash grants to families.[18] Non-compliance with the uniform policy is widespread.

The school's motto was previously 'Motivate. Aspire. Transform.', however, this has since been changed to 'Inspire to Excel' as part of the transition to academy status and to bring the school further in line with Aldridge branding. Historically, the school's motto since its founding in 1977 was the Latin phrase 'Curamus'.

Historically, there was a monthly school newspaper under the name 'Curamus', the Latin phrase which was the school's motto, written and edited by pupils. Curamus ceased to be printed some time in the late 1990s. The tradition of a school newspaper was revived in 2013 with the NPCS News, which is a termly magazine. However, NPCS News did not have pupil involvement as before, and was instead produced by the school's Marketing Officer and administrative staff. The magazine was renamed 'Duke's News' in 2018 to reflect the school's transition to academy status and membership of the Aldridge Education academy chain.

Pupils can participate in The Duke of Edinburgh's Award, which is a voluntary programme of activities that can be undertaken by anyone aged from 14 to 25, founded by HRH The Duke of Edinburgh. The school allows pupils in Year 9 to work towards achieving the Bronze Award, followed by an opportunity to complete the Silver Award during Year 10.[19]

The school was a designated ‘specialist arts college’ under the UK specialist schools programme. In line with this subject specialism, pupils take part in a range of activities organised by the Music and Drama departments. Highlights include the annual Jamaican Independence Day assembly which features singing and steel pans.

Pupils also have the opportunity to design their own performances, such as the 2017 pupil-led play ‘Dutty Babylon’ which focused on the life of musician Smiley Culture and culminated with a rendition of his infamous song, ‘Police Officer’, and a 2018 video on police stop and search, which saw pupils criticising the Metropolitan Police Service which they considered to be "institutionally racist".

The school's performing arts provision has been praised for giving pupils a voice to express themselves.

The school has a number of lunchtime and after school clubs, including film club and chess club. It also has a thriving self-defence club which aims to instruct pupils on how to tackle an attacker with a knife if they are unable to run away given the high prevalence of knife crime in the local community, including incidents on school grounds.

Pupils at the school are able to learn to play instruments, including the Turkish Bağlama, Trinidadian and Tobagonian steel pans, and the recorder. The school subsidises some of the cost for pupils to learn to play these instruments as a result of its expressive arts subject specialism.[20]