Portsmouth Academy


The Portsmouth Academy is a secondary school with academy status, located in Portsmouth, Hampshire, England. The school is located on St Mary's Road in the Portsmouth central sub district of Fratton near St Mary's Church. Originally established as a girls' school, it became co-educational in the 2017/18 school year.
The last Ofsted inspection was in 2017, during which the school was rated 'Good' with 'Outstanding' Leadership. The Academy opened in April 2013, replacing its predecessor school, which was judged as inadequate by Ofsted. The current Principal is Natalie Sheppard, she is supported by the Director of Secondary, Gwynn Bassan, who is the former Principal of The Rochester Grammar School, Kent. Stuart Gardener is the CEO of the Thinking Schools Academy Trust.

History

1890–1975

The original school building was St Mary's School build circa 1890. It first became a school for girls in 1930 as the Junior Girls Department of the nearby Penhale Road Board School. The building became one of the early casualties of bombing in Portsmouth during World War II and was subsequently demolished. With post-war reorganisation resulting from the Education Act 1944, the Kingston Modern School for Girls was created in 1949. This was initially based at the Penhale Road site rather than the St Mary's site and had 250 girls on roll. This figure soon increased until it became impossible to accommodate the number of pupils. By 1954, with numbers still increasing, it became clear that a new building would be necessary at the St Mary's site.
The new Kingston Modern School for Girls building opened on its present site in 1957. It cost £105,821 to build and consisted of a main three-story block with 20 classrooms including specialist rooms for science, art, craft and domestic science and a library. There was also a hall, stage and a dining area, and a gymnasium. The site was much smaller then, being surrounded to the north and west by houses that no longer exist today. Numbers of pupils continued to increase and a new extension which is now the current Science and Technology block was completed in the 1960s.

1975–1994

In 1975 education in Portsmouth was again reorganised resulting in the creation of the City of Portsmouth Girls' School as a comprehensive school for girls between the ages of 12 to 16. As a result, the site increased in size again, with a large sports field, a new sports hall, and another new complex, which is now the humanities block.

1994–2001

In 1994 education was once again reorganised in Portsmouth and the school became an 11–16 comprehensive school, taking girls from age 11. To accommodate additional numbers, another new block for teaching Modern Foreign Languages and Technology was added, together with the all-weather multi-sport pitch, completed in 1998. practice rooms, additional office space and a new changing room for the Dance Studio was completed in February 2001.

2006–present

In 2006 the 'Training & Learning Centre' was built on the school grounds. This building is used by the school for lessons and other activities and is also open to bookings from the local council as well as private individuals and groups. The centre contains offices, a fully equipped Information Technology suite, classrooms and conference room.
The school achieved specialist Humanities College status in 2008, and converted to academy status in September 2013. The school was then renamed Portsmouth Academy for Girls. In September 2017, the academy welcomed its first cohort that included boys.