St John's CE Academy - OPENING SEPTEMBER 2023

The Vale Academy Trust was delighted to be successful in its application to run the new school in Grove on the Wellington Gate Development which is called St John’s CE Academy.

St John’s CE Academy

The school is being built primarily, but not exclusively, to meet the need of families living in the new development of Wellington Gate. The existing local schools do not have the space to meet this additional need. We hope that this new school will become a key part of the local community, providing a focal point not only for families but also for events and facilities for the wider community beyond the school.

St John’s will have brand new facilities for teaching and learning, built for purpose and fully fitted out to deliver a high quality education for our pupils. There will be specialist teachers and specific areas for specialist subjects in the secondary department.  We will have large open fields and play areas and a dedicated Forest School area in the primary school’s grounds. The proposed staffing structure for the primary phase has already been mapped out by Kerry Cottrell, Primary Head of School, alongside an exciting curriculum.

We chose to deliver this school as an ‘all through ‘ from Nursery to Year 11 because there is no other similar facility locally and we wanted to give parents a wider choice. The secondary and primary schools will work closely together so when pupils move from one to the other, they are well prepared. Children who join the school at Year 7 will also be fully supported to make a smooth transition from whichever primary school they attend.

The facilities will be available for use by parents and the local community when not in use by the school.

St John’s is a Church of England School and we work in close partnership with the local Diocese. However, the school will be open to families of all faiths, or none. Our core Christian Values provide a strong foundation for all our pupils to become independent learners and confident young people.

If you would like to see the catchment area for the school please click HERE. You can still apply for a place even if you do not live in the catchment area.

The Vale Academy Trust

The work of the Vale Academy Trust is underpinned by our core values, which are:

RESPECT / AMBITION / COLLABORATION / INTEGRITY / KINDNESS

We currently run 8 successful schools in the Wantage and Abingdon area and are proud of our pledge: 

• To ensure our schools offer safe, secure and happy environments and are exciting, stimulating places to be
• To strive to improve the outcomes for every child, encouraging them to reach their fullest potential for the duration of their time at school
• To provide a range of Trust-wide opportunities and widen horizons that add value to the school experience and 'Involve, Engage, Enrich and Inspire' 
• To encourage, empower and support our staff in becoming first class education practitioners and to recruit only the best, inspirational teachers to work for us.

As an ‘all through‘ school at the centre of the new Wellington Gate community, St John’s will offer something a little different from any of our current schools. But we believe using our experience of providing education based on our Trust vision and values it will become an outstanding member of our group of schools.