The former school, Stainburn School and Science College, was an average sized secondary school with shared sixth form located to the north of Workington in Cumbria. The students come from both the town and several of the surrounding villages. The school had specialist status for science from 2003. The proportion of students with learning difficulties and/or disabilities was well above average; though the proportion of students with SEN statements was is broadly average. Demographically the majority of students are White British. It was closed requiring improvement in 2015, and the student transferred into the new academy. The school was helped through the transition period by seconded staff from William Howard Trust, and subsequently they joined that trust. The trust was renamed Cumbria Education Trust.
New building
The academy was first situated in the same Stainburn School and Science College building. It relocated to the new building, located at the same site, in March 2017. Workington Academy's new building was officially opened on Tuesday 26 September 2017 by Her Royal HighnessThe Duchess of Gloucester. As of 2018, both the Southfield Technology College building and the Stainburn School and Science College building have been demolished. Workington is small isolated community where change happens slowly, from Lancaster, from Newcastle-upon-Tyne and from Manchester.
The 2018 Ofsted Report identified that the current headteacher is showing leadership, and is supported by the parents and children. It identifies that the school was not meeting government floor standards previously, and the principal problem for most pupils is raising their literacy and numeracy standards to an age appropriate level. It acknowledges that some children level cannot control their behaviour in the corridors and social areas and in some cases the classroom. Ofsted calls them 'a small disruptive minority', some teachers are targeted leading to variable quality of learning. The head has put strategies in place, and year on year the results are improving. The Cumbria Education Trust has broadly the same curriculum in its three secondary schools, based on the principle that each child is entitled to receive the education described in the UK governments National Curriculum - the trusts plans to exceed it.
2020 Sixth form
In September 2020 a new level of co-operation starts with the initiation of the West Coast Sixth Form. Students from Whitehave Academy and Workington wanting to enter one of the three pathways of sixth-form education, will study in a combined sixthform. There will be a free bus service between the two sites
Negative publicity
In July 2017, the school received negative publicity after parents and pupils reported of poor teaching on a local Facebook page, with people claiming that there were a large amount of supply teachers and pupils being allowed to play on mobile phones. The interim headteacher, Colette Macklin, promptly hit back at the claims in an interview with local newspaper News and Star.
