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Acland Burghley School

Coordinates: 51°33′27″N 0°08′24″W / 51.5574°N 0.140°W / 51.5574; -0.140
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Acland Burghley Secondary School
Address
Map
Burghley Road

, ,
NW5 1UJ

England
Coordinates51°33′27″N 0°08′24″W / 51.5574°N 0.140°W / 51.5574; -0.140
Information
TypeCommunity school
Motto"Creating excellence together" [1]
Local authorityCamden
Department for Education URN100053 Tables
OfstedReports
GenderCoeducational
Age11 to 18
Housesno
Websiteaclandburghley.camden.sch.uk
Filming outside of Acland Burghley School for the documentary for the DVD release of Chalk. This part of the school is seen on the show's opening titles.

Acland Burghley School is a mixed comprehensive secondary school in the Tufnell Park area of the London Borough of Camden, in London, England. The school received specialist status as an Arts College in 2000 and is a part of the LaSWAP Sixth Form Consortium.

Recent quality assessments

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The 2013 Ofsted report summarised the school as follows: ‘The school is larger than the average secondary school. Approximately two-fifths of students are White British. A significant proportion of students are from other White backgrounds, White and Black Caribbean and other Black backgrounds. Several other minority ethnic groups are represented in the school. An above average proportion of students are known to be eligible for the pupil premium, which provides additional funding for children in local authority care, students known to be eligible for free school meals and those from families in the armed forces. A similar proportion of students are entitled to the Year 7 catch-up premium. The proportion of students supported through school action is below average. The proportion of students supported through school action plus or with a statement of special educational needs is above average. The most common needs are behavioural, emotional and social difficulties and speech, language and communication needs. There are also students with physical disabilities. The school has specialist arts status and has gained the Arts Mark Gold Award.[2]

The Good Schools Guide said that the school was "remarkable for its art and for the egalitarian effects of its anti-bullying and peer mentoring programme.'[3] The school is above national average for the new Attainment 8 headline measure. The number of pupils achieving grade C or better in English and Maths is above the national average and the number of pupils attaining the English Baccalaureate is significantly above national average.[4] The school has also twinned with Chianna Primary school from Ghana, and during the year donations are collected and sent to the school in Ghana, who are in need of basic educational supplies.

Previous headteacher Michael Shew hit out at a supply teacher for secretly filming pupils misbehaving in class. He confirmed that the school had featured on Channel 5’s hidden camera documentary Classroom Chaos after he was contacted by the Camden New Journal. The documentary, which received widespread media coverage, showed pupils misbehaving during a Media Studies class. Mr Shew argued that the programme’s makers used underhand tactics to film children without their permission and had opened up the possibility of legal action.[5]

The current headteacher is Nicholas John. Former headteacher Jo Armitage was praised as having a significantly positive impact on the school in a 2010 Ofsted report .[2] This was less positive in the 2013 inspection where the school was inspected and given notice to improve. A subsequent Ofsted monitoring report in September 2016 judged senior leaders and governors as "taking effective action to tackle the areas requiring improvement... in order to become a good school"[6] and stated that "In a short space of time the new headteacher (Nicholas John) has been instrumental in delivering significant improvements."[6] The most recent Ofsted report in March 2018 gave the school a 'Good'[7] rating again and judged the effectiveness of leadership and management as 'Outstanding'.[7]

LaSWAP Sixth Form

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The LaSWAP Sixth Form is the sixth form consortium of four North London schools: Acland Burghley School, La Sainte Union Catholic School, Parliament Hill School and William Ellis School. It is one of the largest sixth form consortia in the Greater London area offering some 42 different A level courses, AGCEs, BTECs, NVQs and GCSE courses. The name was formed from the first three letters of La Sainte Union and the first letter of the other three schools.

Notable former staff

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June Fisher was a deputy and later acting head here before she left to take up a headship and to be President of the NUT.[8]

Notable former pupils

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Depiction in fiction

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The exterior of the school was used as the fictional Galfast High in Steven Moffat's 1997 sitcom Chalk.[16] The exterior was used again in 'Supernova' a 2006 story in the BBC drama series Silent Witness.

In 2008, the school was featured on the first episode of the third series of the Channel 4 show Balls of Steel.

Acland Burghley is the setting for Eve's husband's school drinks party in series 2 episode 3 of Killing Eve, with both exterior and interior footage.

In literature, the school is revealed as Peter Grant's old school in Whispers Under Ground and to have a ghost haunting the railway tracks under its playground. The science lab in Robert Muchamore's first book in the Cherub series, The Recruit, was based on the Acland Burghley science labs.

References

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  1. ^ website, Acland Burghley School. "Home". Acland Burghley School.
  2. ^ a b "Acland Burghley School". Ofsted. Retrieved 24 April 2014.
  3. ^ "Acland Burghley School | London | LEA:Camden". The Good Schools Guide. Archived from the original on 31 December 2010. Retrieved 24 April 2014.
  4. ^ "Acland Burghley School - GOV.UK - Find and compare schools in England". Compare school and college performance. 19 October 2023.
  5. ^ Rik Henderson, Made by Michael (6 May 2005). "Camden New Journal". Camden New Journal. Retrieved 24 April 2014.
  6. ^ a b Matthews, Helen (26 September 2016). "Ofsted Monitoring Report September 2016" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 21 April 2017.
  7. ^ a b "Acland Burghley Ofsted Inspection Report March 2018" (PDF). aclandburghley.camden.sch.uk.
  8. ^ "Past union president dies". Tes. Retrieved 14 June 2021.
  9. ^ a b "Why Shakespeare inspires rapper Akala". London Evening Standard. 18 March 2008. Archived from the original on 24 April 2014. Retrieved 24 April 2014.
  10. ^ "Acland Burghley School - Calendar - News". www.aclandburghley.camden.sch.uk. Archived from the original on 14 July 2014.
  11. ^ Savage, V. (13 December 2011). "Grange Hill Behind the Scenes (1987)". YouTube. Archived from the original on 14 December 2021. Retrieved 1 July 2015.
  12. ^ "Headteacher quits Acland Burghley School after 'too harsh' report by Ofsted inspectors | Islington Tribune". Archived from the original on 17 July 2018. Retrieved 21 July 2018.
  13. ^ "Actor Damian Lewis 'too privileged' for school event". BBC News. 28 January 2016. Retrieved 12 January 2021.
  14. ^ "Henderson's Boys author, Robert Muchamore, returns to inspire youngsters at old school". Camden New Journal. 2 February 2012. Archived from the original on 13 November 2013. Retrieved 24 April 2014.
  15. ^ a b c website, Acland Burghley School. "Acland Burghley School - Alumni". www.aclandburghley.camden.sch.uk.
  16. ^ After the Chalk Dust Settled, featurette on Chalk Series 1 DVD, ReplayDVD.co.uk, prod. & dir. Craig Robins
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