Brooke Weston Academy is an Academy in Corby, Northamptonshire, United Kingdom, teaching pupils from ages 11 to 18. It has consistently placed very highly in GCSE league tables and has an above average value added score at Key Stage 4.^[3][4] The value added score for Key Stage 5 is below average nationally, but slightly higher than the Northamptonshire average.^[5] Attainment on entry is well above average and the proportions of pupils with learning difficulties and disabilities or eligible for free school meals are much lower than average.^[6]

This article relies excessively on references to primary sources. (April 2021)

Quick Facts Address, Coordinates ...

Brooke Weston Academy[1]
Address
Coomb Road Corby , Northamptonshire , NN18 8LA United Kingdom
Coordinates	52.4672°N 0.7127°W / 52.4672; -0.7127
Information
Type	Academy
Established	1991
Department for Education URN	135317 Tables
Ofsted	Reports
Principal	Shaun Strydom[2]
Gender	Mixed
Age	11 to 18
Enrolment	1,196 pupils
Colour(s)	Blue and Silver
Website	http://www.brookeweston.org/

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Founded in 1991, the school was opened as a City Technology College. The college's catchment area includes Corby, Kettering and surrounding towns and villages. Two businessmen, Hugh de Capell Brooke, a local landowner, and Garry Weston, owner of Associated British Foods, donated land and funded the initial building of the school respectively, along with additional grants from the W. Garfield Weston Foundation.^[7] The school opened in September 1991 under the name Brooke City Technology College. The name was changed 18 months later to reflect the continued support offered from the Weston Foundation.

• Gareth Newman CBE: 1991 - 1999. Was appointed a CBE in 1997 in recognition of his services to education. The library at Brooke Weston is named after him in his honour.
• Sir Peter Simpson OBE: 1999 - 2007. Was appointed an OBE in recognition of his services to the school.^[8] He was knighted in the Queen's Birthday Honours 2011.^[9]
• Trish Stringer: 2007–2015 (former Executive Principal for the Brooke Weston Trust)
• Sam Strickland (Associate Principal): 2015 - 2016
• Peter Kirkbride: 2016–2020
• Shaun Strydom 2020–present

The school makes use of electronic whiteboards in all classrooms, learning bases and study rooms.^{[citation needed]} Every pupil and member of staff has their own user accounts and storage areas.

The school was one of the first to take on board the GNVQ IT, in place of the GCSE. The transitional year of 1998 saw other subject classes cancelled for entire week blocks to bring the pupils into the new qualification having previously studied the GCSE. In addition many Design & Technology classes were cancelled to be replaced with IT classes.

The school produced and sold an ‘online curriculum’. This consists of a range of interactive learning materials and online tasks which all relate to various subject areas. The school's subsidiary company, @tain, sells access to the content to other schools. In addition, the school also provided training days which allowed teaching staff from other schools to attend seminars at the school and learn the methods in which the school taught the courses provided on its online curriculum and how to maximise the effectiveness of using it in a classroom environment.^{[citation needed]}

With the redevelopment of the vocational courses in 2010, Brooke Weston decided to not produce materials for the new specifications.^[10]

Each year, the school holds its annual sports day at Corby Triangle near Rockingham where it displays almost all popular track and field disciplines.

Brooke Weston holds an annual prizegiving in September of each year, celebrating the achievements of the pupils for the previous academic year. Prizes are awarded in each year for individual subjects (with the exception of Year 11 and Year 13), pupil of the year, and also recognition for academic success in GCSE and A Level.

The school also has a Design Technology suite, with CAD/CAM facilities and a laser cutter. The CAD/CAM suite also includes an A3 colour laser printer. The department also includes two workshops including CNC lathes, wood-turning lathes, metal working lathes, scroll saws and pillar drills, jig-saws and clamps. The department also features facilities for textiles and sewing as well as an area for pupils to review and edit design plans digitally using a range of programmes. It was refurbished in 2008 at a cost of £250,000.^[11] The school also has its own video editing studio with chroma-key (blue-screen) facility.

In September 2008, Brooke Weston converted to an Academy. £5 million of Government money has been invested in the school, which has resulted in the construction of a new Creative and Digital Arts Centre. Opened on 9 October 2009, this has expanded the school's music and drama performing facilities alongside a new TV studio and kitchens, which will allow Food Technology to be taught. The entire school building underwent a refurbishment to coincide with the opening of the new department.

In January 2013, Brooke Weston issued an apology after an email criticising a pyjama day was accidentally sent from vice principal, Mark Willimott, to children's cancer charity 'Chelsea's Angels', who suggested the event. Willimott had intended to forward the email with his comments to a colleague, but inadvertently addressed it to charity founder Michelle Tompkins too, writing:

"AM I MISSING SOMETHING??? FYI although are they aiming for a paedophile's paradise????"^[12]

In August 2015, Willimott was arrested for possessing and distributing indecent images of children. He pleaded guilty to all four charges facing him, including one count of making 30,546 indecent images of children, one count of making 773 indecent images of children, one count of distributing 128 indecent images, and one count of possession of an extreme pornographic image showing the act of intercourse with an animal. None of the images were of children at Brooke Weston.^[13] In April 2016, Willimott was sentenced to two years in prison for the charge of distributing images, eight months in prison for each of the charges of making images, and one month in prison for a further charge of possessing an extremely indecent image involving an animal. A statement from Brooke Weston said:

"Brooke Weston Academy is shocked and appalled by Mark Willimott’s conduct. The police investigation determined that none of the activity took place using school equipment or involved any of our pupils. The safety of pupils at the Academy has and will always be our paramount concern and we have robust safeguarding procedures which have been complied with.” ^[14]

The school is in partnership with the Corby Business Academy, which has replaced the former Corby Community College. The former principal of Corby Business Academy, Dr. Andrew Campbell, is the Chief Executive of the Academy Trust, with principals Simon Underwood and Nicola Treacy (Joint Heads of School) and Peter Kirkbride respectively in charge of each school.

In September 2009, the Partnership became partly responsible for the running of the new Kettering Science Academy. This 3-18 school replaced both the Ise Community College and Henry Gotch Primary School.