The Hundred of Hoo Academy

The Hundred of Hoo Academy (formerly The Hundred of Hoo School) is a 4–18 mixed, all-through school and sixth form with academy status in Hoo St Werburgh, Kent, England. It is part of the Leigh Academies Trust.

The Hundred of Hoo Academy
Address
Main Road

Hoo St Werburgh
,
Kent
,
ME3 9HH

England
Coordinates51°25′18″N 0°33′01″E
Information
Former nameThe Hundred of Hoo School
TypeAcademy
Local authorityMedway Council
TrustLeigh Academies Trust
Department for Education URN137119 Tables
OfstedReports
PrincipalCarl Guerin-Hassett[1]
GenderMixed
Age range4–18
Enrolment1,481 (2020)[2]
Capacity1,900[2]
Websitewww.hundredofhooacademy.org.uk

Name and Location

The Hoo Peninsula is a peninsula in Kent, England, separating the estuaries of the rivers Thames and Medway. It is dominated by a line of sand and clay hills, surrounded by an extensive area of marshland composed of alluvial silt. The name Hoo is a Saxon word believed to mean 'spur of land' or refers to the 'distinct heel-shape of the ridge of hills' through Hoo.[3] Hoo features in the Domesday Book.[4]

Much of the peninsula lies in one of the Saxon divisions of England called "hundreds": here it is the "Hundred of Hoo". The Isle of Grain, at the tip of the peninsula until recently a complete island, was in the Hundred of Gillingham; part of the parish of Stoke was in the Hundred of Shamel.[5] Hoo was both isolated and rural, but industrial, home to major power station and the Kingsnorth Container Port.

History

The Hundred of Hoo Secondary School was established in 1948 in the buildings now occupied by the Wainscott Primary School. It had 200 children and 8 members of staff. The school moved to the existing buildings in 1956–57.

Middle schools

In 1977, the schools on the Hoo Peninsula were re-organised by Kent County Council in response to the government Circulars 11/66 and 10/68.[6] It became part of a three tier education structure. The Hundred of Hoo site housed the school, Hundred of Hoo Upper School, and one of the three middle schools, the Hoo Middle School. The other two middle schools were at Cliffe Woods and Allhallows. These middle schools were Middle schools deemed secondary for funding purposes, taking children from 9 –14 years old (Year 5, 6, 7, 8). There were eight feeder primary schools known as first schools.[6]

High school

In 1994 the schools were reorganised again, with the Hundred of Hoo upper school and Hoo Middle School, merging to become an 11–18 mixed comprehensive. Since then there has been much additional building work, providing the school with specialist facilities and social areas for each year group, including a large Sixth Form common room. An examination hall/exhibition/meeting venue, called the Morris Poole Examination Suite is able to accommodate up to 350 examinees or an audience of 600+. Each learning area has an ICT Suite.

In June 2008, it was announced the school was one of forty schools in Kent and Medway ordered to meet the Government target of 30 percent achieving five or more GCSE A* to C grades, including English and Maths within three years, or face closure; the school achieved 22 percent in 2007.[7][8]

Academy

In June 2009, the school was placed into special measures following an inspection by Ofsted. This led to the resignation of its principal Tony Williams, and Gary Holden, head of Rochester Math School became executive head of both schools. A new governing body was appointed to "handle all governance matters and provide strategic direction for the school".[9]

In the same month, the school was earmarked £1 million to help improve its standards during the next two years, being one of seven schools nationally to be awarded funding by the Department for Children, Schools and Families (DCSF). This followed an earlier announcement the school had been accepted as a National Challenge Trust School status, which allows councils to "raise standards in schools where replacement with an Academy would not be the best option". The status is designed for schools with less than 30 percent achieving five or more GCSE A* to C grades, including English and Maths; Hundred of Hoo achieved 26 percent in 2008 compared to 46.6 percent nationally and locally.[10]

The school became an academy, joined the Williamson Trust on 1 September 2001. It was inspected by Ofsted in 2003 who noted improvements in provision and rated it a good school.[11]

In February 2018, the death was announced of the trusts CEO, Gary Vyse, at the early age of 37.[12]A verdict of suicide was recorded.[13]

Governance

Before 2011, this was a foundation school with Kent County Council and then Medway Council. After being put in special measures in 2009 it joined the Williamson Trust and reopened as an academy on 1 September 2011. Williamson Trust merged in January 2019, with Leigh Academies Trust. All Williamson Trust academies, including The Hundred of Hoo Academy, joined the newly named Leigh Academies Trust as part of the Medway Cluster.[14]

Description

Hundred of Hoo is a 11-19 secondary school with a 4- 11 primary school that as yet is missing a year 5 and year 6. When complete it will be a full All-through school. It will then be run in three sections. It hosts an specialist autism unit and cooperates with a nursery that shares the same site. [15]

Primary School

The primary school implements 2014 National Curriculum for Key Stage 1 and Key Stage 2. It is taught with in the framework of the International Baccalaureate Primary Years Programme. [16]:6 [15]

Curriculum

Virtually all maintained schools and academies follow the National Curriculum, and are inspected by Ofsted on how well they succeed in delivering a 'broad and balanced curriculum'.[17] Schools endeavour to get all students to achieve the English Baccalaureate(EBACC) qualification- this must include core subjects a modern or ancient foreign language, and either History or Geography.

The school operates a three-year, Key Stage 3 offering the 'broad and balanced curriculum'. However in 2017, the academy ran a two-year Key Stage 3 with no discrete IT, followed by a three-year Key Stage 4. This model was deprecated by Ofsted in late 2019. [18] The trust took this on board and in September 2020 and took to offering the 3 year key stage again.

Hoo is a candidate school for the International Baccalaureate Middle Years Programme (MYP). While the content of the National Curriculum is taught, the subjects are grouped into the MYP framework.

  • Language and Literature – English
  • Mathematics – Maths
  • Sciences – Science
  • Individuals and Societies – History, Geography and PSHRE
  • Language Acquisition – Languages
  • Arts – Art, Textiles, Drama, Music
  • Design – IT, Food
  • Physical and Health Education – PE [19]

Key Stage 4 encompases year 10 and year 11. All students study the core of English Literature, English Language, Mathematics, Science and PE. and choose four options. Almost all will select history or geography and French or Spanish at GCSE.. BTECs are offered in Enterprise and Marketing,Health and Social Care, Creative iMedia (It), Performing Arts (Pa) Health and Fitness, and Travel and Tourism. There were 14 GCSEs on offer.[20]

Key Stage 5 offered A level courses in 2020 in maths, Sociology, Psychology, English Literature, Film Studies, History, Politics and Geography Art, Media Studies, Photography, Textiles at 'A' level

This was supported by vocational courses in Business Studies, Health and Social Care (Single and Double certificate), ICT – Digital iMedia, Public Services, Sport, Applied Science, Criminology, Travel and Tourism. [21]

Autism Specialist Unit

The school has a specialist resource base called the St Werburgh Centre (SWC), which caters for 64 pupils who have autistic spectrum disorder. All of the pupils in SWC are referred by the local authority. They all have a statement of special educational needs, an (EHC plan). The school liaises with Medway Council over capacity. [15]

References
  1. "Contact Us". The Hundred of Hoo Academy. Retrieved 10 November 2020.
  2. "The Hundred of Hoo Academy". Get information about schools. GOV.UK. Retrieved 10 November 2020.
  3. "Historic England - The Hoo Peninsula Landscape".
  4. The Place Names of Kent, Judith Glover, 1976, Batsford. ISBN 0-905270-61-4
  5. Arnold, Ralph (1974). The Hundred of Hoo. ASIN B0007J0HUC.
  6. Staff Handbook 2014- Introduction (School Internal Document).
  7. "Ministers give seven Medway schools their final warning". KentOnline. 10 June 2008. Retrieved 11 November 2020.
  8. "Full list of schools ordered to improve". KentOnline. 10 June 2008. Retrieved 11 November 2020.
  9. Robinson, Hayley (16 June 2009). "Hoo school placed in special measures". KentOnline. Retrieved 11 November 2020.
  10. Clarke, Sarah (17 June 2009). "£1 million earmarked to help improve the Hundred of Hoo School". KentOnline. Retrieved 11 November 2020.
  11. "Ofsted Report 2013". ofsted.gov.uk. Retrieved 31 January 2021.
  12. Duggan, Joe (14 February 2018). "Headteacher who banned pupils from wearing heavy make up dies at home". mirror.
  13. Ashton, Ben (18 June 2018). "Emotional last message sent by head teacher, 37, before he took his own life". mirror. Retrieved 31 January 2021.
  14. "Leigh Williamson Statement Nov 2018.pdf". Google Docs. Retrieved 3 January 2019.
  15. "Ofsted Report 2018". ofsted.gov.uk. Retrieved 30 January 2021. This article contains quotations from this source, which is available under the Open Government Licence v3.0. © Crown copyright
  16. "Prospectus – The Hundred of Hoo Academy". www.hundredofhooacademy.org.uk. Retrieved 30 January 2021.
  17. Roberts, Nerys. "The school curriculum in England Parliamentary Briefing Paper" (PDF). parliament.uk. Retrieved 6 July 2020.
  18. Roberts, John. "Ofsted insists there is no 'preferred length' for KS3". Tes. Retrieved 29 January 2021.
  19. "Key Stage 3 Curriculum – The Hundred of Hoo Academy". www.hundredofhooacademy.org.uk. Retrieved 29 January 2021.
  20. "Key Stage 4 Curriculum – The Hundred of Hoo Academy". www.hundredofhooacademy.org.uk. Retrieved 30 January 2021.
  21. "Sixth Form Curriculum – The Hundred of Hoo Academy". www.hundredofhooacademy.org.uk. Retrieved 30 January 2021.
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