Last updated 16:03, Wednesday, 22 October 2008

SEPTEMBER brings the start of the new academic year; transported children enter halls and corridors that have lain empty over the summer break and the sounds of their voices re-awaken the nation’s schools.

In Egremont, students are too busy catching up on news from old friends to notice any change. Two schools have become one; Wyndham and Ehenside have amalgamated to create the West Lakes Academy.

It will be hours, before the festival of greeting and sharing runs its course and the students settle to discover what is new.

The buildings are brighter and more modern, with lowered ceilings and a fresh coat of paint.

Old school names replaced by West Lakes Academy and a new principal, not a headteacher, stands at the front of morning assembly.

Much, however, remains the same; the familiar faces of teachers, the old worn-out buildings and classrooms, and new technology that still confuses the staff and break down as efficiently as last year’s model. Lessons run their course, but are no longer controlled by the ringing of bells: the Academy has a new mantra, ‘moving learning forward’, which begins with the expectation that students and staff can manage their day without hourly time checks.

This is the start of the revolution; the new beginnings that will see West Lakes Academy challenge all aspects of the learning agenda. Our mission, to open the door of opportunity to our young people, to motivate, inspire, and raise expectations.

To be successful West Lakes Academy must be inclusive, providing every child with the learning outcomes that they need in order to be successful adults in the 21st Century.

West Lakes Academy is on a journey of change, a change from a focus on teaching to a focus on learning.

Students will be taught about their own learning styles, they will identify a learning pathway unique to them and their own individual needs.

Teachers remain accountable for learning outcomes, but our young people must learn to take responsibility for achieving their own dreams and goals and ensuring that they leave school with the tools they need to be whatever they want to be.

Over the next three years many changes will occur at West Lakes Academy, not least the opening of our brand new buildings in 2011.

Educational change however, is not about new buildings, equipment or facilities, learning is about people. West Lakes Academy must therefore, develop a new relationship with its students and community, creating a new beginning, a learning revolution designed to meet the needs of every young person in the West Lakes community.