We were so pleased to officially open our brand-new school today, Bluecoat Trent Academy, starting the new academic year with a bang!
The academy will help to meet the growing need for secondary places in Nottingham. It opened in temporary accommodation on the grounds of Bluecoat Aspley Academy, whilst the new build was ongoing, achieving Good overall and Outstanding for Personal Development in it’s first Ofsted inspection in January 2024.
Now, all 660 existing students will be moving from Aspley and joining the new Year 7 intake of 240 students, in a purpose-built new school. Once all year groups have started, the school will accommodate 1,200 students from the Sherwood, Mapperley, Forest Fields and Hyson Green areas.
Constructed on the former Clarendon College site on Mansfield Road (Pelham Avenue), a total of £30m has been invested in Bluecoat Trent Academy which includes a Sports hall, Gym/dance studio, 2 x MUGA pitches, drama studio and a lecture theatre alongside specialist classrooms, science labs and DT workshops.
Bluecoat Trent Academy builds on the partnership Archway Learning Trust already has with Nottingham Trent University, who are involved with mentoring and supporting students through an outreach programme.
It was officially opened on Tuesday 3rd September with multiple partners represented at the event, including Professor Edward Peck, Vice Chancellor of NTU (Nottingham Trent University) and Nick Rubins, The High Sheriff of Nottinghamshire; Carole McCulloch, The Lord Mayor of Nottingham; and Professor, Veronica Pickering, Lord Lieutenant of Nottinghamshire, and representatives from Nottingham City Council.
Sian Hampton, Chief Executive of Archway said: “We are very privileged to be able to open this new school in the heart of the city and it has been so encouraging to receive such widespread support from our communities. This is home ground for us, and we have recognised the need for this provision for some time.
“We are passionately committed to raising aspirations and improving life chances of the young people of Nottingham and Derbyshire and to be able to work in collaboration with other organisations to extend this to an even wider community is fantastic.”
Claire McManus is the Principal at Bluecoat Trent Academy. She said: “We are delighted to welcome all our current and new pupils to our new school. It’s fantastic for us all to see all the plans come to fruition and the teaching staff are all very excited to be providing the highest quality learning in this new state of the art facility. Our new school will be underpinned by our core values of Citizenship, Aspiration, Respect and Excellence (CARE).”
