John Cabot Academy formerly John Cabot CTC, was one of 15 City Technology College

City Technology College

In England, a City Technology College is a state-funded all-ability secondary school that charges no fees but is independent of local authority control, being overseen directly by the Department for Education....

s that first opened for students in the 1993/1994 academic year. It has since converted to Academy status on 1 September 2007.
It is located east of Bristol

Bristol

Bristol is a city, unitary authority area and ceremonial county in South West England, with an estimated population of 433,100 for the unitary authority in 2009, and a surrounding Larger Urban Zone with an estimated 1,070,000 residents in 2007...

, England in the Kingswood

Kingswood, South Gloucestershire

Kingswood is an urban area in South Gloucestershire, England, bordering the City of Bristol to the west. It is located on both sides of the A420 road, which connects Bristol and Chippenham and which forms the high street through the principal retail zone...

 area and is named after John Cabot

John Cabot

John Cabot was an Italian navigator and explorer whose 1497 discovery of parts of North America is commonly held to have been the first European encounter with the continent of North America since the Norse Vikings in the eleventh century...

, an explorer who set out from Bristol and reached the Americas in 1497.
The academy has approximately 1,050 students, about 220 of whom are in the sixth form

Sixth form

In the education systems of England, Wales, and Northern Ireland, and of Commonwealth West Indian countries such as Barbados, Trinidad and Tobago, Belize, Jamaica and Malta, the sixth form is the final two years of secondary education, where students, usually sixteen to eighteen years of age,...

.

Information

The Principal is Adam Williams. The academy is part of an Academy Federation led by David Carter, the previous Principal. The federation runs lessons throughout the three schools, with sixth formers moving between schools for some of their lessons.

In previous years, the academy has operated the Cabot Competency Curriculum, which was developed at the academy. It focused on 'learning to learn', but dropped it due to its impracticality and pointlessness
The academy is divided into four communities; Saturn, Mercury, Neptune & Jupiter.

Term system and school day

From the start of the academic year 2009/10 the term system has been changed to be the same as other schools in England to make the Diplomas easier to coordinate. This turned out to be unpopular due to demand for public places and therefore became over crowded.

Student Voice

The academy has a student voice

Student voice

Student voice describes the distinct perspectives and actions of young people throughout schools focused on education."Student voice is giving students the ability to influence learning to include policies, programs, contexts and principles."...

 system which allows the students to give their opinions on issues related to the academy, such as sanctions and rewards, and the construction of new buildings. One student from each tutor group is chosen each term, which (for those in Year 7 when it began) should mean each student is picked at least once. The chosen student becomes the representative of their tutor group, collecting opinions from their classmates to relay to the meeting.

Media and Visits

In February 2007, pop band McFly

McFly

McFly are an English pop rock band who first found fame in 2004. The band consists of Tom Fletcher , Danny Jones , Dougie Poynter and Harry Judd . They were signed to the Island Records label from their 2004 launch until December 2007, before creating their own label, Super Records...

 visited to the school in aid of Comic Relief

Comic Relief

Comic Relief is an operating British charity, founded in 1985 by the comedy scriptwriter Richard Curtis and comedian Lenny Henry in response to famine in Ethiopia. The highlight of Comic Relief's appeal is Red Nose Day, a biennial telethon held in March, alternating with sister project Sport Relief...

, to talk to students about their recent visit to Uganda. The school has also had visits from Dame Kelly Holmes and diver Tom Daley

Tom Daley (diver)

Thomas Robert "Tom" Daley is an English diver who specialises in the 10 metre platform event and was the 2009 FINA World Champion in the individual event at the age of 15. He started diving at the age of seven and is a member of Plymouth Diving Club. He has made an impact in national and...

.

The Roundview College scenes from E4

E4 (TV)

E4 is a channel on British digital television, launched as a pay-TV companion to Channel 4 on 18 January 2001. The "E" stands for entertainment, and the channel is mainly aimed at the lucrative 15–35 age group...

 comedic

Comedy

Comedy , as a popular meaning, is any humorous discourse or work generally intended to amuse by creating laughter, especially in television, film, and stand-up comedy. This must be carefully distinguished from its academic definition, namely the comic theatre, whose Western origins are found in...

 teen drama

Teen drama

A teen drama is a dramatic television series with a major focus on teenage characters. The genre was relatively non-existent for the first 45 years of television; it came into prominence in the early 1990s...

 series Skins

Skins (TV series)

Skins is a BAFTA award-winning British teen drama that follows a group of teenagers in Bristol, South West England, through the two years of college. The controversial plot line explores issues such as dysfunctional families, mental illness , adolescent sexuality, substance abuse and death...

were filmed at John Cabot Academy.