NEALE-WADE principal Jason Wing has set his sights on leading what he believes will become one of the best secondary education centres in the country when he spoke at the official launch of the March Academy today.
After months of hard work by staff and the completion of a £25million new building, Mr Wing said the school had gone from “taking a bit of a kicking” to now proving it had a bright future ahead of it.
He said: “We’ve had a bit of a kicking, we had been told we were a failing school, we had a lot of work to do but we have made some radical changes and we are now in a really strong position.”
The school this week officially launched as an academy being run by a trust committee instead of the local authority, Cambridgeshire County Council.
As part of the switch the school uniform will change from polo shirts and sweatshirts to traditional shirts, ties and blazers.
“Changing the school has been like trying to turn a tank around,” Mr Wing said,
“When I first started I didn’t want to compare ourselves to other schools in the area I wanted to measure ourselves against other schools in the country.
“We are more than capable and we are up for it.”
Dr Liz Sidwell, schools commissioner for England, said Academy status meant working towards quality education where every child could reach their potential.
“The Neale-Wade is a place full of hope and strength where young people can thrive under strong leadership and quality education,” she said.
“The Academy programme is gathering pace.”
Clive Bush, Chief Executive for the management team, Active Learning Trust, said it was important to ensure young people had the best opportunities by pooling educational specialists with a common purpose.
“Neale-Wade is on the rise,” he said.
“We need to face up to our responsibilities as social engineers. The world is changing and academy status is the new way to look at education.”
• For more on today’s launch of Neale-Wade Academy, see Friday’s edition of the Cambs Times.
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