Royal Wootton Bassett Academy


Royal Wootton Bassett Academy is a mixed secondary school and sixth form in the town of Royal Wootton Bassett, Wiltshire, England, for students aged 11 to 18. In July 2011, the school became an academy.

Facilities

The facilities include an AstroTurf sports pitch and numerous sports facilities catering for tennis, cricket, football, rugby and hockey.
The sixth form centre has classrooms and a lecture theatre with retractable chairs, also used as a drama studio.

Administrative structure

Adopted in the early 2000s, the school employed a system of phases. There were three main categories, the 'Transition', 'Development' and 'Extension' phases, all of which were presided over by an Assistant Headteacher. This system has since been abolished, after proving unpopular with staff and drawing criticism as "corporate jargon". The school since returned to the traditional method of grouping students into Lower School, Upper School and Sixth Form.
The school operates a system of tutor groups, each tutor having approximately 30 students. Tutors rarely teach students from their own group. The main role of groups is to create a stable peer system, with each aiming to tutor the same group throughout their 5 years, or 7 if they stay on for sixth form.
The layout of the school is like two 'E's back to back, and a main corridor running down the middle, nicknamed 'The Street' by pupils and teachers alike. Each branch teaches a different subject, with wings of varying lengths, the longest three being Admin/Reception, School Hall and Gymnasium, Science and D&T. Each floor within each wing also teaches a different subject,. The Modern Foreign Languages wing used to be the shortest, under half the length of the others, until the sixth form centre was added.

The house system

RWBA's house system encapsulates the holistic approach the Academy takes to the development of its students and staff. There are five houses, co-ordinated by five heads of house, each named after the four "Bassetts": Winterbourne, Compton, Wootton, Berwick and Bassett. They compete in a year-long series of competitions and events such as team-building competitions, pumpkin carving, harvest festival basket designs, sports tournaments and £10 fund raising challenges. Fundraising for international, national and local charities plays an important part in competitions and provides the students with a sense of self in the world. The house system promotes a strong family sense of identity with the house, and with the Academy, and is widely valued by students and staff alike.