Strabane Academy is a 'supportive school, with a great family spirit'

ADVERTORIAL

STRABANE Academy is a controlled, co-educational, and non-denominational grammar school.

We are very much a part of our community, a small, caring, and supportive school, with a great family spirit committed to equality of opportunity.

The values of the school reflect and are informed by the Christian faith, and we welcome all children regardless of religion, race, or social background.

We are proud of the diversity of our pupils whether from the town itself, our local villages, our rural areas or indeed further afield and we seek to be inclusive in all our activities.

Recent DE data would suggest that we are the sixth most Integrated school in Northern Ireland, a statistic we are rightly very proud of.

At Strabane Academy we emphasize individual fulfilment and the pursuit of excellence.

The school demands high standards of work and conduct and whilst the focus is on academic excellence, we believe in a growth mind-set which believes that pupils abilities can be developed through perseverance and hard work.

This positive outlook helps to create a knowledge of how we learn and a resilience that is essential for pupils to realize their true potential later in life.

We have a fantastic team of highly motivated, compassionate, and knowledgeable staff both teaching and non-teaching who are committed to providing an outstanding education.

Whilst we ensure that the pupils are challenged, we do so in an atmosphere of mutual respect where pupils are valued within a safe and caring learning environment.

Our curriculum ensures that our pupils have access to a wide range of academic and vocational courses.

On entry to Year 8, they are streamed into classes according to their ability using the transfer test scores and the standardised scores which we receive from our feeder primary schools.

Our pupils will also sit Cognitive Ability Tests (CAT) in Years 8 and 10 which allows us to set individual targets and to track the pupils’ progress.

The strength of this is ensuring that all our pupils are making progress in-line with their ability.

It also ensures that we can cater for the needs of those children who, for whatever reason, did not sit the entrance exam but who we believe, will flourish later in their development having been given the time to thrive.

There is a strong, clearly structured Pastoral System that guarantees dignity and respect, which identifies problems early and responds quickly.

This underpins the strong ethos of achievement for all pupils and equips them with the skills to prepare them for their future role in society.

We have built a superb school with fantastic facilities to provide the best educational experience for the children who attend Strabane Academy and we have grasped this opportunity with both hands.

Our school building ensures that our pupils have access to the most modern and up-to-date facilities which has enabled us to continue to grow year on year.

We warmly invite pupils and parents to come and visit our open evening on Thursday, January 25, to experience for themselves the warmth, energy and caring ethos that exists here.

Having been oversubscribed for the last four years, this is most definitely a school 'on the up'and we would urge you to come along and experience it for it for yourself.

The principal’s address will begin at 6.30pm and you will have the opportunity to talk to the staff, the pupils, and parents with experience of the school, as well as seeing the excellent facilities and examples of the work produced by pupils.