Welcome to Edgar Wood Academy. We are incredibly excited to have been chosen by the Department for Education (DfE) to open a new school to serve the local community in Middleton and Heywood. Helping our students realise their potential lies at the heart of everything we do. Through a culture of mutual respect, positive behaviour and high standards, we aim to inspire and engage all pupils, regardless of prior attainment or social background.

We have been progressing our plans to open the Edgar Wood Academy since entering the ‘pre-opening’ phase of the free school process in June 2019 and are preparing to welcome our first year 7 students in September 2021.

Our 11-16 state-funded secondary school has been working closely with Rochdale Borough Council to meet the estimated shortfall of places for current year 6 students and is proposed to open with an initial intake of 120 year 7 students in temporary accommodation within the grounds of Hopwood Hall College’s Middleton campus in September 2021. The permanent school building is targeted to open in September 2022.

Outline planning permission has been granted for the permanent site, which will be located on land at Bowlee, accessed off Heywood Old Road in the Middleton area of Rochdale. This will be a new modern building with state-of-the-art facilities.

At Edgar Wood Academy, we believe in a holistic education. We devote ourselves to improving student achievement through high-quality teaching in a safe and caring environment. We value each individual child in our school and recognise that each has different talents and gifts, which we will nurture over the course of their school journey. We will help each student to develop, both personally and academically, so that they have the knowledge and skills to progress to an aspirational career, a fulfilling life and make a positive contribution to their local community.

The Altus Education Partnership is a Multi Academy Trust (MAT) and was established in April 2017 by the governing body of Rochdale Sixth Form College, an outstanding A level provider established in 2010.

The college was awarded outstanding status by Ofsted in 2013 and has developed a national reputation for excellence, having been used in Ofsted case studies for sharing best practice.

The development of the Trust stemmed from a commitment to raising aspirations and improving the life chances of young people throughout the borough of Rochdale. In 2019 the Trust was successful in its application to open a new free school, the Edgar Wood Academy, which will serve the local community in Middleton and Heywood.

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