By Nick Spurrier

Standing in its own grounds in a leafy area of Folkestone, the Academy has nine science labs, eight specialist rooms for art textiles and graphics, dance, drama and recording studios, four music rooms and six music practice rooms. There is flexible performance space, computers with wireless internet access in all classrooms.

The sports hall has a viewing gallery and retractable assembly seating for 800 pupils and hard play areas include an all weather pitch, playing fields, cricket pitch and running track.

There is indoor recreational space for all pupils, with a training kitchen and restaurant and hair and beauty training salon. It also houses an independent community radio station – Academy FM - with two state of the art recording studios.

Two million pounds funding from Roger De Haan and central government money enabled the construction of the Foster and Partners designed £40 million Academy.

It is impressive, though the principal Sean Heslop was a little wary of it at first sight: “The building was big and imposing but, without anyone in it, echoey - almost ghost like. Later I came back and, with the students in it, loved the building. I think the way it works with people inside is brilliant.

"We have over 1,400 students here and 300 staff - 1,700 people working their way around it. The movement in the walkways, the up and down, in and out is fantastic. I have been very impressed with the building and the use of space and light, glass and steel.”

It would be foolish to believe that this magnificent building with state of the art facilities has not contributed greatly to changing the failing Channel School into one of the most oversubscribed schools in Kent with a dramatic improvement in examination results.

But of course it is not the whole story.

Without the enthusiasm and dedication of the Principal and the teaching and support staff, it is possible that the problems engrained in the old school would have transferred to the new one.

Sean Heslop took the helm after the tragic sudden death of its first principal, John Patterson. He said: “I had always worked in London, in good comprehensives and grammar schools. So coming here was a personal challenge. Having run a school like Tiffin could I do the same thing with pupils from a very different background in a different part of the country.”

And without doubt there is a great difference. The catchment area for Tiffin School in Kingston–upon-Thames is probably one of the most affluent in the country whereas the Academy is taking some students from one of the most deprived areas.

As Heslop puts it: “We cater for an area of east Folkestone that has many challenges that have to do with low expectations, with the consequential low educational achievement and not having the confidence to look beyond the horizon of the locality.

"But we are starting to take those challenges on. This year we sent 40 students to university – the highest number ever and of course we replaced a school that never had a sixth form. So the determination to have the highest possible expectations of our students is the key to everything we are doing”.

These expectations of course extend to good behaviour, perhaps the main perquisite in any successful school.

For the last three months, on my visits to the school several days a week to broadcast on Academy FM about the archaeological excavation at the Roman Villa on East Cliff, the school has appeared to me to radiate good order from the toing and froing on the elevated walkways to the girls quietly engaged at the beauty salon and those involved in presenting programmes on the radio.

The smartly dressed teachers and school uniforms add to this sense of order but there are other aspects of the building which help.

The walkways, though they may be reminiscent of some prisons do serve a similar purpose. As Heslop says: “There are no corridors, no areas shut away or closed off. Everything is open and visible and there are no hiding places; this acts as a major deterrent to bullying.

“Bullying happens in every school,” Heslop explains, “and if anyone tells you it doesn’t they are lying. It can be the worst thing in the world if someone’s life becomes difficult through an individual or group picking on them. The issue is how it is dealt with. And we like to believe that, when we are alerted to things, we intervene quite quickly.

"Because we have got eight houses, the 1,400 students are divided into smaller families. They eat breakfast and lunch in the house and have social times there, so it is an important part of their school life. As a result there is something of a family feel and they have their pastoral manager or head of house to whom they can talk to if they have problems.”

And this does work as I found out myself when talking to a young student while waiting one day to do my broadcast on Academy FM. He told me he liked the school, though he volunteered without prompting, and that in itself is revealing, that he had been bullied in his first term. I asked what had happened and he replied that after talking to his house pastoral manager it had stopped and never recurred.

Of course there is always the odd one who knew the old regime and resents the new. An older boy I chatted to had some nostalgia for the lax discipline and shorter school hours of the old Channel School but on the other hand he obviously appreciated the new opportunities provided by the radio station.

With a school day running from 8.30 – 5.00, more teaching and other activities can be accommodated.

Beyond formal lessons and sports, the school has four specialisms designed to encourage students to broaden their horizons: the arts which tie in with the Creative Quarter, media which has involved students in making documentaries, and European Culture, in furtherance of which the school has bucked the national trend with large numbers studying French German and Spanish.

Without doubt the school does provide more opportunities for students to achieve their full potential and has extended the horizon of many.

It is worth returning to Academy FM, where on Wednesdays I do my bit about the Roman Villa dig during a three hour show put on each week by Mel and Becky, two effervescent and dedicated year 10 Students. One Wednesday, after I had talked about what had been happening that day, Becky, for the first time, asked me on air, some supplementary questions.

It was quite clear that the talks had stimulated an interest in archaeology.

This article has been published in a recent issue of Go Folkestone Magazine. Click here [4] for an electronic version of the Magazine on the Go Folkestone [5] website

© Hawkinge Gazette and Channel Coast News 2012