Mossbourne's Ethos
The Mossbourne Community Academy is a place where:

• All learners are welcome, regardless of age, ability, gender, ethnic origin, personal circumstances or need.
  
• Students are given opportunities to develop as active citizens and members of the community through varied learning opportunities, assessment and mentoring to support their development.
  
• Pupils, adults and other learners feel safe and secure within a multicultural environment.
  
• All learners feel motivated to excel, because their needs are met through a policy of inclusion, where pupils are supported whether they are gifted and talented or have special educational needs.
  
• Staff become full and active participants in the activities of the Academy, working as a team, involved in the running and leading of the school, and are accountable for the delivery of high quality education.
  
• Parents and carers become involved with their children's learning through home-school partnerships, parents'; meetings, discussions with tutors and other mechanisms.
  
• Members of the local community are welcomed and encouraged to be full and active participants in the life of the Academy.
  
• There is clear, inspiring, leadership by governors and senior staff that actively promotes the commitment of the Academy to providing a high quality environment for lifelong learning for all.

A New Community Academy for Hackney
The Mossbourne Community Academy is an all-ability secondary school with the flexibility to take innovative approaches to teaching and learning. By September 2008 there will be places for up to 1,000 boys and girls aged between 11 and 16. There are also plans for a Sixth Form which will act in consortia with other academies and community schools in Hackney.

The Academy incorporates state-of-the-art equipment and facilities. Mossbourne Community Academy is supported by sponsorship from Hackney-born Sir Clive Bourne, President of Seabourne World Express, who has contributed up to 2 million towards capital costs. Sir Clive is working in partnership with the Department for Education and Skills (DfES) and The Learning Trust.

The world-famous architectural practice, the Richard Rogers Partnership, designed the Academy. The design provides a flagship building within the borough that meets the needs of pupils, teachers and staff, as well as recognising the community's aspirations for the future.

High standards
The Academy's key focus is on raising overall standards in the area and working in partnership with the wider community and other schools to help boys and girls of all backgrounds and abilities attending the Academy to achieve their potential.

The Academy offers an exciting range of opportunities to grow academically in a stimulating, professional atmosphere, with an equal opportunities ethos and a can-do attitude.

Excellence
The Mossbourne Community Academy plays an essential role in developing educational excellence in Hackney. It offers high-quality, inclusive and innovative teaching and learning.

The Academy works closely with the local community and within a strong partnership of Hackney schools to raise the aspirations, expectations and educational achievements of all members of the community.

Intake
The school opened in September 2004 and has already admitted 400 pupils in Years 7 and 8. It is proposed that the Academy will eventually accommodate 1,000 pupils, and will therefore have its full complement of pupils from Year 7-11 by September 2008. A Sixth Form is also being planned. The school is mixed and in principle will seek to admit an appropriate balance of boys and girls. The school will cater for children with a wide range of abilities and needs, including individuals with special educational or physical needs, as well as the richly varied mix of social, ethnic and linguistic backgrounds within the wider Hackney community.

Admissions Criteria
Like other publicly funded schools in the borough, the school will work within the admissions arrangements operated by the Local Education Authority. The Academy will consider all applications for places. Where fewer than 180 applications are received, the Academy will offer places to all those who have applied.

Dealing with Over Subscription

1. The initial allocation of places at the Academy will be made on the basis, and in the order, set out below:
   
   a) Children who are looked after by the local authority in accordance with section 22 of the Children Act 1989, irrespective of the use of banding arrangements set out below:
   
   b) Children with statements of Special Educational Needs where the Mossbourne Community Academy is named on the statement, irrespective of the use of banding arrangements set out below:
   
   c) Through the use of banding, which will apply to all applicants to the Academy as set out in Clauses 2 to 5. Pupils gaining places under criteria listed at 1 a) and b) will be allocated to the appropriate band, if they do not take the test. The purpose of banding is to create a comprehensive intake to the Academy and all students will be allocated one of four ability bands of equal size, ie four bands with 25% of applicants in each.
   
2. The Academy will normally offer 60% of the places remaining after the application of the criteria in Clause 1 a) and b) to local pupils who live inside the local catchment area, defined as living at an address located within 1,000 metres from the front gate of the school measured in a straight line and 40% of places remaining after the application of the criteria in Clause 1 a) and b) to pupils living outside this catchment area.
   
3. All children without a Statement of Special Educational Needs who apply for a place will sit the NFER Non- Verbal and Verbal Reasoning Tests for the purpose of banding as described in Clause 1 c). The tests will last for up to three hours and will be held at a time and venue to be determined in the Autumn Term each year. Note: Children cannot fail the NFER Tests and therefore any request to re-sit Tests will be refused.


4. Applications from pupils inside the local catchment area will be placed in to four ability bands of equal size, ie four bands of 25% of applicants each. If in any Band there are more applicants than places available, then pupils will be offered places in the following order:
   
   a) Children with brothers and sisters on the roll at the school at the time of the admission;*
   
   b) Children whose acute medical or social need justifies a place at the Academy;**
   
   c) Children living closest to the Academy, measured in a straight line from their home address.
   
   Note 1: If in any Band there are fewer than the required number from outside the catchment area, then all pupils will be offered a place and the remaining places offered to pupils who live inside the catchment area.
   
   Note 2: Applicants with special educational needs but without a statement will receive equal consideration with other applicants.
   
5. Applications from pupils outside the local catchment area will be placed into four ability bands of equal size, ie four bands of 25% of applicants each. If in any Band there are more applicants than places from pupils living outside the local catchment area, then pupils will be offered places in the following order:
   
   a) Children with brothers and sisters on the roll at the school at the time of the admission;*
   
   b) Children whose acute medical or social need justifies a place at the Academy; **
   
   c) Children whose nearest, alternative, nondenomination, mixed secondary school is the furthest as measured in a straight line from their home address.
   
   Note 1: The nearest alternative secondary school is defined as the school closest to the applicant’s home address, where the school is maintained, non-denominational, co-educational and not wholly selective. This excludes independent schools (other than Academies), church and other faith schools, single-sex schools and grammar schools.
   
   Note 2: If in any Band there are fewer than the required number from outside the catchment area, then all pupils will be offered a place and the remaining places offered to pupils who live inside the catchment area.
   
   Note 3: Applicants with special educational needs but without a statement will receive equal consideration with other applicants.
   
   General notes to Clauses 1 to 5: Note 1: A computerised GIS system will be used to measure distances. The Academy will not undertake measurements for individual parents by request.
   
   Operation of Waiting Lists
6. If the Academy is oversubscribed, unsuccessful applicants will be placed on a Waiting List. The Waiting List is maintained until the end of the summer term of that academic year. A new Waiting List will be started the following September.
   
7. Applicants applying outside the normal admission round will be considered in accordance with the oversubscription criteria described above.
   
8. Position on the waiting list will be determined solely in accordance with the provisions of Clauses 10 to 13 above. Where places at the Academy become available, they will be allocated to children on the waiting list in accordance with the over-subscription criteria

For the Whole Community
The vision for the new school focuses very much on a community facility meeting the needs of local people.

A 21st Century School
The Richard Rogers Partnership has come up with a design and structure that best meets the needs of pupils, teachers and staff, as well as embodying the community’s aspirations for the future. The Partnership has created an imaginative design that expresses a sense of inclusion and openness, security and belonging, whilst enhancing the whole area of Hackney Downs, a key green space in East London.

Regeneration
The Mossbourne Community Academy is a flagship building for Hackney. Its ‘open arms to the Downs’ design symbolises the inclusive ethos of the Academy. This exciting development is playing a vital role in regenerating a neglected area of East London. A brownfield site, which had previously languished for years, has been completely transformed into an environmentally friendly, visually attractive focal point for the community – as well as being a first-class centre of learning.

The Vision
The Mossbourne Community Academy is a learning organisation for the whole community, where pupils and other learners can enjoy their experience, thrive and excel. The Academy provides a high-quality, flexible learning and social environment, with equality of access for all. The students and the wider community it serves are provided with world-class, 21st-century learning opportunities. It uses the freedom and flexibility given to successful schools to excel and innovate for the benefit of the Academy and its wider community. Enriched, enhanced and relevant curriculum pathways have been developed that motivate, support and lift the academic and vocational aspirations of the students and community. All learners will benefit from the high-quality, innovative and enlightened approaches adopted for teaching and learning within the Academy.

Open days and evenings
The school will be open for one week to allow prospective parents to visit by prior appointment only. Appointments can be made to visit the school during the week commencing Wednesday 26 September 2007 from 6pm and from 7.30pm.

Principal's address followed by tour (please arrive 10 minutes before to ensure admittance)

For Secondary School Admissions:

Tel: 020 8820 7197
Tel: 020 8820 7402

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