Hastings Academy

The Hastings Academy, formerly known as Hillcrest, is a secondary school in Hastings, East Sussex, England. The school has over 700 students and over 100 staff. The headteacher is Mr. Stuart Smith.

History

Hastings A School was completed in 1953, where it opened as a girls secondary school. At around this time the school campus was made up of B-Block and the sports fields. With the closure of the boys school in Priory Road in the late seventies, (next to Castledown School), Hillcrest accepted both male and female students.

In 2007 the school closed its 6th Form.

Campus

Former school buildings

The school campus is divided into four blocks: L block, the Sports Centre, A Block and B Block. In addition to the Sports Centre, there is a gymnasium in B Block. There are three tennis courts on site and four playgrounds. There are two fields east of the Language Block. The school owns part of the woodland behind A Block's playground. A multi use games area was opened in 2006.

A Block

• Humanities: Geography, History and religious education
• Science
• Drama
• Administration
• Caretakers' office

There are huts behind A Block where maths is taught and student services, the health clinic, library and canteen are located there.

B Block

• English and media
• Maths
• Art
• IT
• PE (gym)
• Music
• Design technology
• Student Services
• SENCO Department
• Food Technology

The main entrance is there and leads to Kenway Hall.

L Block

The language college is where French, German and Spanish are taught to the students; Japanese. Other languages are taught during after school classes. There is an ICT suite, primarily for the use by Language classes.

Hastings Federation

In 2008, a proposal to create a federation between Filsham Valley, Hillcrest and The Grove secondary schools to improve major aspects of the school was sent up to county to be approved; being approved by the East Sussex County Council before the end of the 2008 school year.^[1]

Under the federation, led by Sir Dexter Hutt, the school has improved in all areas including attitude towards learning, behaviour both in and out of the classroom, OFSTED inspections^[2] and GCSE results^[3] with 76% of students achieving 5 A* – C, and at least 93% 5A* – G grades.

The federation continues today in the form of The Hastings Academies Trust which includes Hastings Academy and The St Leonards Academy (The result of a merger between Filsham Valley and The Grove).^[4]

References