Hull’s first and oldest Academy is now ten years old. Archbishop Sentamu Academy, which opened in September 2008, marks its special anniversary with a celebratory event this Friday 14th of September.
The celebrations will commence with speeches from founding Principal, Andrew Chubb and The Most Reverend & Right Honourable Dr. John Sentamu, Archbishop of York. These will be followed by a range of performances from the academy’s students and further speeches from current Principal, Chay Bell, Governors and former students.
The event will then turn its attention to the planting of commemorative trees and a time capsule, a “Guinness World Record” attempt by the academy’s Rugby Scholars and finally with a whole-school photograph on the field in the shape of the number ’10’.
Founding Principal, Andrew Chubb, said:
"Leading ASA through its first ten years has been an immense privilege. It has been particularly wonderful to see the lives of so many of our young people transformed, with large numbers completing their sixth form studies with us and going off to university. Archie has always been a family, so it has also been a great pleasure to establish ASPIRE, and to work so closely with St. James’ and Newland St John’s C of E primary academies, all of whom are now part of our wider Trust. With so much achieved during our first decade, we are extremely excited about the next 10 years, looking forward to bringing “Life in all its fullness” to even more local young people”.
Over the past ten years, the academy has celebrated a range of successes both academically and through its extensive extra-curricular activity. The event will acknowledge a selection of these, from the 6th Form’s consecutive 100% Pass Rate (2017 & 2018) to multiple Rock Challenge victories in its early days as an academy. In 2017, the academy played a large part of the City of Culture celebrations, welcoming the likes of BBC’s Nick Grimshaw, Mark Thomas and hosted a range of events including a sell-out week of circus act, Hotel Paradiso.
Archbishop Sentamu Academy boasts several unique scholarship and excellence programmes for its students. In just ten years, the academy has launched Rugby and Performing Arts scholarships which have created countless opportunities for students and the surrounding community and in 2016, became the only school in Hull to provide the Mandarin Excellence Programme: a nationwide programme which would see UK students fluent in Mandarin Chinese by 2020.