Heanor Gate Spencer Academy

 The UK school whose community-focused curriculum is turning lives around in an area facing significant social and economic pressures

Heanor Gate Spencer Academy, a secondary state school in Heanor, Derbyshire, UK, is turning lives around and helping students find local employment in a former mining town identified among the 20% most economically challenged areas in the UK. Heanor West is a community working hard to overcome significant social and economic barriers. It faces ongoing challenges such as limited employment opportunities, reduced social mobility, and concerns around community safety. Many families are navigating these challenges, whilst local schools are striving to improve attendance, academic outcomes, and staff recruitment and retention.

Once a struggling institution, the school transformed itself into a high-performance learning environment by changing its curriculum to include self-regulation and emotional literacy, crucial for its context, to directly impact behaviour and academic performance. The community-focused model is designed around employability and the local labour market to provide personalised learning pathways for vulnerable students. Students engage in community initiatives and projects to build self-esteem and a sense of belonging. 

A project in collaboration with a local gym and boxing club allows students to participate in activities including boxing, self-defence, spin classes, and breakfast clubs, which tackle involvement in anti-social behaviour and promote self-esteem, wellbeing and a sense of belonging. Through these activities, students learn valuable lessons to help them navigate the unpredictability of school life, positively impacting their academic performance. Notably, student engagement has increased, particularly among disadvantaged and vulnerable students. Complementing this initiative, a self-regulation curriculum has been introduced to teach and model positive learning behaviours and interactions gained through the project, helping students build resilience, self-control and confidence.

Another key project is a student-led collaboration with local care homes that aims to reduce social isolation among the elderly whilst raising awareness of age-related issues. Involving children from a local primary school, this project centres on the school’s value of Unity and has provided an exceptional opportunity for leadership development, building organisational skills through teamwork.

The school maintains a long-standing partnership with Salcare, a local food bank, to support families affected by the cost-of-living crisis. Initiatives led by its prefect body help reduce the stigma of food insecurity while developing leadership within the school. 

More than 500 students have engaged with these initiatives, contributing to an increase in attendance that now sits above the national average. It has acquired over £30,000 in funding from the community to enhance facilities at the local gym and sponsor a study classroom for students with turbulent home environments, giving them a safe space to study and work. The wellbeing team currently provides support to 76 families. The school actively engages with the local labour market through career-related trips and employer partnerships, and has expanded its wellbeing and family support to equip students with coping strategies to overcome challenges they may face as young adults. This support also includes workshops for parents offering practical guidance across various areas, including mental health and emotional regulation. The culture of respect, recognition and support has led to a 0% staff turnover.