Unity City Academy – Term Dates

Unity City Academy opened in 2003. It was formed by the merger of Keldholme School and Langbaurgh School, sponsored by support services company Amey plc. The funding for the Academy consisted of £8 million from the Department for Education and £2 million from the sponsor, Amey. The Academy was built for 1,200 pupils, although the February 2014 OFSTED report states that the Academy had only 671 pupils. In 2016, it has only 624 pupils recorded. After opening, the Academy went through a period of difficulty, including being placed in Special Measures in 2005. In September 2006 the academy was relaunched as a Vocational and Enterprise Centre, following the building of a new enterprise centre funded by the Department for Education and Skills. In 2009, The school was declared inadequate by OFSTED and placed in Special Measures for a second time. In order to raise standards, the Department for Education intervened. A Chief Executive, a Director of Education and an Executive Principal were appointed. The Academy improved and in March 2013 was graded as 'Good' by OFSTED, but by January 2016 it had been given a warning notice by the Department for Education for "unacceptably low standards." The Academy has changed sponsor twice. It also went through a highly unusual 14-month period when it had no sponsor at all, and it is one of very few academies to have been declared by OFSTED to be 'inadequate' on three separate occasions: 2005, 2009 and 2016.