Abbey College, Ramsey

Abbey College, Ramsey

Established	2006
Type	Academy
Headteacher	Mr Wayne Birks
Location	Abbey Road Ramsey Cambridgeshire PE26 1DG England
Local authority	Cambridgeshire
DfE URN	131205 Tables
Ofsted	Reports
Students	1842
Gender	Coeducational
Ages	11–18
Colours	Blue (7-11), Black (VI Form)
Website	www.abbeycollege.cambs.sch.uk

Abbey College is a secondary academy school in Ramsey, Cambridgeshire, England. The school is situated about 10 miles from Huntingdon and Peterborough, and offers education for 11 to 18 year olds within its area. The school also offers courses for post-16 and has had a specialist Technology College status since 1999. On 1 September 2011 the school officially gained academy status. There are over 1800 pupils.

History

The school was formed from the amalgamation of Ramsey Abbey School and Ailwyn School which was completed in September 2006, when the new school opened. The former Ramsey Abbey School had been open for several centuries dating back to its use as a monastery, while Ailwyn School opened during the 1950s.

Layout

The school is located over the sites of the former schools from which it was formed.

The north part of the site (former Ramsey Abbey part) comprises:

• Ramsey Abbey - home to Social Sciences, the Abbey Library, Sixth Form area and some computing rooms.
• The 'old' block - home to the North Hall, part of Technology and Art.
• The Millennium building - home to Science, Humanities, Religious Studies and part of Drama.
• The Garden building - home to Languages and Physical Education.
• The canteen and Café 6 (6th Form only).

The south part of the site (former Ailwyn part) comprises:

• The Hereward Building - home to Maths, part of Technology and administration area.
• The Jones block - home to part of Technology and part of ICT.
• The Cromwell building - home to Cromwell Library, part of ICT and infirmary.
• The Oswald building - home to English.
• The Frank Burton building - home to Music and part of Drama.
• The Ailwyn Science Building - home to Science in the college.

General Information

As of September 2011, the school has used a new 'vertical system' in which students from different year groups are all in the same tutor groups. The 'vertical system' has also seen the introduction of five new houses, these are Shakespeare, Mandela, Curie, Newton and Edison. Each house is headed by a member of staff.

The school offers a wide variety of extra curricular activities. The opportunities provided by the music department in particular have been praised throughout the community; the Abbey College Concert Band recently won a competition, resulting in a tour to Paris, where they played a concert on Disneyland Paris' main stage. The flute group was recipient of the 'Best Overall Group' prize in the Rotary Club's 2010 Young Musician of the Year Competition, whilst year 11 students Hannah Butson and Natalie Davies were awarded the top prize in the 'Vocal Ensemble' category of the same competition. The school year 11 rugby team should also be acknowledged for exceptional performance in the national schools cup being the last public school left in the competition in 2010.

In 2011 the school was labelled by Ofsted as "A good school with outstanding features".

Notable Alumni

Allan Anderson (cat handler)

Mark Smith

External links

• Official Website