Principal's Blog

20/09/2012

I am delighted to be writing my first blog for our new Pimlico Academy website and welcoming you to Pimlico Academy on line. It is an opportune time to launch the new website given the excellent news that planning permission has been granted for Pimlico Primary  Over the course of this year many of you will have heard about our plans to open Pimlico Primary.  We have now been given the go-ahead and work will begin in October.  The result will be a wonderful new primary school building that will open its doors in September 2013 to 60 reception children.  In time these children and their successors will, if they choose to, go on to join Pimlico Academy in Year 7. This will make us an all-through school for local children from ages 4 – 18

Many people have asked us why we want to open Pimlico Primary. There are a number of reasons for this. The most obvious is the pressing need for more school places at primary level in Westminster. There is also a significant demand from local parents for places at an excellent non-denominational local school. Most importantly, we have a deep conviction that we can provide local children with a genuinely first class education that ensures they develop as happy, articulate, literate and knowledgeable young people. The core element of this will be a curriculum that offers breadth and depth at a level seen in very few schools in the country.

We have already begun the process of implementing such a curriculum in year 7 at Pimlico Academy. Year 7 pupils studying the Pimlico Curriculum are benefitting from a curriculum that provides academic depth, rigour and coherence.  This goes hand in hand with a pastoral system that nurtures and supports pupils to become happy and rounded young adults. I am confident that this curriculum will prove to be transformative in the educational development and achievement of our pupils. The Curriculum Centre (TCC), the body set up by our sponsors to implement our new curriculum, will be working with staff to ensure the successful introduction of the curriculum.  When Pimlico Primary opens next year reception children will be introduced to The Pimlico Curriculum at the start of their academic journey.  This curriculum will give them the most solid foundation possible for high level academic success and will be a joy to learn.

Our plans are ambitious but deserving of our students. It is, therefore, with a sense of great optimism that we begin the new term. I look forward to keeping you updated on developments throughout the year.

Jerry Collins - Principal