Outwood Academy City Fields

Outwood Academy City Fields
Address
Warmfield View Wakefield , West Yorkshire , WF1 4SF England
Coordinates	53.6885°N 1.4764°W / 53.6885; -1.4764
Information
Type	Academy
Local authority	Wakefield
Trust	Outwood Grange Academies Trust
Department for Education URN	136394 Tables
Ofsted	Reports
Chair of Governors	Joanne Kendall
Headteacher	Michelle Colledge-Smith
Gender	Mixed
Age	11 to 16
Enrolment	643 as of January 2016^[update]
Capacity	750
Website	www.cityfields.outwood.com
2km 1.2miles Outwood Academy City Fields

Outwood Academy City Fields, formerly Wakefield City Academy, is a mixed secondary school with academy status, located in Wakefield, England. It has over 600 pupils ages 11 to 16 on roll, and its current headteacher is Michelle Colledge-Smith.^[1]

History

Further information: Wakefield City Academies Trust § Request to stop operating

Wakefield City High School was a foundation school administered by Wakefield Council. In January 2011 the school was renamed Wakefield City Academy when it became an academy and the first school to be sponsored by Wakefield City Academies Trust (WCAT). WCAT came under criticism for executive spending in a leaked government report that also noted Wakefield City Academy's inability to produce records of pupil premium payments.^[2] In September 2017, WCAT announced that it was seeking to cease operation and have its schools transferred to alternate sponsor organisations.

In July 2018, the school joined Outwood Grange Academies Trust and was renamed Outwood Academy City Fields.^[3] It continues to coordinate with Wakefield Council for admissions.

Curriculum

Wakefield City Academy offers GCSEs, BTECs and City and Guilds courses as programmes of study for pupils.

Controversy

Flattening the grass assemblies

In 2019 former teachers at, Outwood Academy Bishopsgarth, another trust school reported a practice of intimidating 'flattening the grass assemblies', which the trust denied.^[4]

Schoolsweek described what happened at a Flattening the grass assembly at Outwood Academy City Fields. They quoted a teacher.

“I’ve never seen anything like it. They were shouting in the faces of any children that were slouching. “Those first assemblies were very, very harsh… The atmosphere was poisonous… The people that were in there were just downright nasty towards the pupils.”

^[5] Again the trust denied the accusation.

References

1. "Outwood Academy City Fields - GOV.UK". get-information-schools.service.gov.uk. Retrieved 9 August 2020.
2. "'Extreme concern' over academy trust that paid CEO £82k just three months". The Independent. Archived from the original on 24 May 2022.
3. "Outwood Grange Academies Trust". Get information about schools. Department for Education. Retrieved 2 September 2018.
4. Perraudin, Frances (16 March 2019). "Academy trust accused of using assemblies to intimidate students". The Guardian. Retrieved 16 March 2019.
5. Dickens, John (14 February 2019). "'Flattening the grass': what's really going on?". Schools Week. Retrieved 16 March 2019.

External links

• Official website
• Letter announcing the closure of the trust 9 September 2017