History of The Thomas Aveling School

The Thomas Aveling School was formed in 1990 following the closure of three local schools. The former Warren Wood Boys' School site was re-developed with new purpose built facilities added to the refurbished classroom and administration block and school hall. The first head teacher was Mrs Ruston who led the school until her retirement in 2001 to be succeeded by Mr Hart. Our current Headteacher is Paul Jackson, who joined us in April 2009. The school set out clear standards and expectations and transformed its reputation and popularity making it oversubscribed for successive year groups. During the 1990s the school gained Grant Maintained status and governors were able to develop new facilities such as the Sports Hall (1997) as well as gain prestigious awards such as Investors in People. This was followed by a good Ofsted Inspection Report in February 2001.

Grant Maintained status was changed to Foundation with the change in national government in 1997 and at the same time Medway LEA was formed as a unitary authority, separate from Kent. Thomas Aveling has played a full part in the community of schools within Medway, working in partnership with local schools to promote a broader range of courses for sixth form students and with the Warren Wood Primary School to develop a full range of extended services and clubs for young people.

Governors have continued to build new facilities at the school. These include a major development of the Learning Resource Centre & Community Library (2002), a music recording studio (2003), fitness & media suites (2004), post-16 science lab.(2005) and design & technology suite (2006). In 2008 a state of the art Performing Arts Centre and Sixth Form/Diploma area were completed. Further improvements to the fabric of the school are ongoing to ensure school facilities are maintained to a very high standard.

In September 2001 Thomas Aveling became a Technology College and set about delivering ambitious plans to raise standards and redefine the school within the selective system of education in the local authority. Over the first four years examination results rose rapidly and this was recognised by the DfES with awards for "value-added" and "most -improved schools." Following the release of results in 2004 the school was named in the 100 Most Improved schools in England and was invited to support other specialist schools as a Mentor School. Specialist schools have to apply for re-designation of specialist status and this was achieved in 2005 with an invitation to become a Training School from April 2006. The school's achievements were recognised by OFSTED who awarded the grade of "outstanding" in 2006

Since this last inspection in 2008, exam results have continued to improve significantly both at GCSE and A level and the school is regularly over-subscribed several times over. We have also started an annual "open door" policy inviting local community and parents to look around the school - this is part of our push to involve the community more in their school.