Wellacre Academy (simply referred to as Wellacre and officially Wellacre Technology Academy, formerly Wellacre Technology College and Urmston Wellacre County Secondary School) is an 11–16 boys, secondary school with academy status in Flixton, Greater Manchester, England. It was formerly a foundation school that was established in 1955 and adopted its present name after becoming an academy in 2011.
The school had a sixth form that was established in 2009, but closed in 2017 due to a small number of students enrolling, resulting in it not being financially sustainable. It is noted for having more solar panels than any other school in Great Britain.
History
Wellacre Academy was established on 25 April 1955 as Urmston Wellacre County Secondary School. It had a grand opening ceremony on 27 April 1955 and renamed to Wellacre Technology College after being awarded 'specialist status' as a Technology College in 2002. Since the status change to the summer of 2005, £1 million had been invested into the school with the development of new facilities including ICT suites, a language laboratory and a floodlit all-weather pitch.
It was designated a Technology College again in December 2006 and became the first and only single-sex school in England and Wales to be rated 'outstanding' by Ofsted, following its inspection in May 2007. Due to this rating, it was awarded expansion money and was close to having its proposal approved for the construction of two prefabricated studio buildings on the western end of the school which would be used for brickwork and engineering teaching, following Trafford Council's planning committee who voted that they were 'minded to grant' on 12 July 2007. The council had received 27 objection letters from nearby residents who had also protested over various concerns including affecting the quality of life, its impact on the wildlife, noise and litter, and taking into account of the all-weather pitch that had already made residents' life a misery. As the council had an ownership interest meant it was required to refer the final decision to the Department for Communities and Local Government.
It opened a 300 place mixed sixth form in September 2009, in a new £7 million three-storey high building at the front of the existing school grounds. It was approved by Trafford Council in September 2007 and paid for with a 'Learning and Skills Council Dedicated Schools Grant'. In 2010, it was visited by Starchaser Industries with their Skybolt rocket as part of the school's science and technology day, with an aim to encourage students to study science.
It renamed to Wellacre Technology Academy after becoming an academy in January 2011; the school was able to apply for the status due to its Ofsted rating of 'outstanding'. In February 2012, it linked with Ferrum High School as part of the Afri Twin, an initiative to encourage mutually beneficial relationships between schools in the United Kingdom and South Africa.
It closed its sixth form in July 2017 following public consultation due to a small number of students enrolling, resulting in it not being financially sustainable. As it was built to accommodate 300 students, it has never had more than 100 and in 2015, it had only 24. The school had to "subsidise the sixth form from other funding streams such as that for students in the main school" because of the small numbers, and sixth forms with less than 200 students are recognised by the Department for Education (DfE) as being at risk of not being financially viable. Current students were able to finish their studies and the 15 that had applied to join in September 2016, had to find places elsewhere.
Structure
Governance
Wellacre Academy is a state-funded secondary school for boys aged between 11 and 16. It was formerly a foundation school that converted to an academy in January 2011 and is overseen by the Wellacre Technology Academy Trust, a single-academy trust. Day-to-day governance of the school is the responsibility of its governing body who are all trustees and directors of the trust, and is made up of 12 school governors with a four-year term of office (except the principal).