The MERCERS’ COMPANY and the INFORMATION TECHNOLOGISTS’ COMPANY are proud to be City Livery Companies and the co-sponsors of HAMMERSMITH ACADEMY, our new, all-ability 11-18 co-educational academy in West London, opening in 2011.

 

The sponsors offer the Academy, its staff and students:

• a track record of school improvement and the establishment of successful schools;
• close contacts with the City and with the IT, Digital and Creative Media industries;
• responsible, enduring support through strong governance and financial support;
• strong links with a network of the country’s most successful and improved schools.

The Mercers’ group of schools

This diverse group of 15 schools and colleges includes some of the country’s leading educational institutions in both the state and private sectors.

Those such as St. Paul’s School, St. Paul’s Girls’ School, and Thomas Telford School regularly feature among the very best schools in their sectors. In 2010 almost half the A level entries at the two St. Paul’s schools achieved A* grades, with over 92% at each school gaining A*/A (better than any other school in England, we believe). Thomas Telford has topped the league tables in the past 3 years as the country’s top comprehensive school at GCSE, with 99% of students gaining 5 or more A*-C passes including Maths and English and a value-added score this year of 1050, in the top 1% nationally.

Hammersmith Academy will become a member of this group and will have access to good practice, ideas and support from these schools and from the Company’s other schools and colleges (including three more Academies and two Beacon 6th form colleges – see overleaf for more details).

The Information Technologists’ Company and Education

The Information Technologists have been partners in the transformation Lilian Baylis Technology School (LBTS), a secondary school based in North Lambeth. Over the last 10 years LBTS has been transformed.

OfSTED now describe it as a 'good school with outstanding features' and the % of students gaining 5 or more A*-C GCSEs including English and Maths more than quadrupled between 2007 and 2010. Head Gary Phillips says of the IT Company:

‘They have brought additional funding, links with businesses for careers events and a great deal of educational expertise into the school. This has helped to transform the life chances for our students whilst ensuring that the school retains its ethos, strong place in the community and its educationally-led governance'.

Previous IT Company education projects include HOLNET (the History of London on the interNET) which is now incorporated into the London Grid for Learning.

What OfSTED say about Mercers’ academies:

Ofsted Inspectors described Thomas Telford School as a ‘remarkable school’ and a ‘beacon of excellence’. They awarded the School the highest possible marks in every single category. Thomas Telford School continues to strive and achieve excellence in all it does. The determined drive of the headteacher for the best for every student underpins the school's success. Standards achieved are the highest in England. Increasingly challenging targets are continually set and met by the school. This ensures that the school has an outstanding capacity to improve.

‘Madeley is an outstanding academy that helps its students make exceptional levels of progress and ensures they are well prepared for the next stage of their life. Students overall make excellent progress. Standards have continued to rise because of the excellent tracking systems which accurately identify the needs of individual students. In 2008 the progress made by students was in the top one percent of all schools nationally and there are clear indications that this will remain at or close to this high level following the 2009 results’

‘Walsall Academy's overall effectiveness is outstanding. It has a well-deserved reputation, a point reinforced by the great majority of parents who responded to the inspection. The academy is very successful in implementing its mission statement which seeks 'to raise educational standards through effective practice and sharing this with the wider community'

‘In the three years that Sandwell Academy has been open it has developed an outstanding curriculum as well as outstanding processes for the care, guidance and support of its students. Its capacity to improve is outstanding. The academy's popularity with parents is such that it is heavily oversubscribed for places in both Year 7 and the sixth form. Considerable challenge is provided by the Key Stage 3 curriculum being covered in two years’

(Sandwell expects its first GCSE results in 2011 and 49% of the year group had already banked 5 A*-C grades including Maths and English by the end of year 10)

You can find out more about the sponsors at

www.wcit.org.uk

www.mercers.co.uk