City of London Academy Islington

At COLAI we aim to provide an exceptional level of care and education for every individual student. The Academy, which opened in September 2008, is a mixed, non-selective Academy, with no religious affiliation, committed to providing excellence in education and opportunities for all.

Our 2016 GCSE results were outstanding, with the Academy being ranked 15th in the country, 6th in London and 1st in Islington for pupil progress. In 2017, we maintained this exceptional record with 91% of students achieving a grade 4 (equivalent to a C) or above in English and 67% of students achieving 5 or more good GCSE passes, including English and mathematics. We also saw excellent performance in modern foreign languages and the humanities.

Our Sixth Form students also achieved exemplary results, with nearly one-fifth of grades awarded being A* or A grades, half of grades at A* to B and 90% at A* to C. Our progress score for A-Levels placed the Academy in the top 10% of all Sixth Form providers. Ninety percent of our Year 13 students secured a place at university, with many progressing to Russell Group institutions.

At COLAI, we are totally committed to providing the absolute best for the young people of Islington. We firmly believe all students can succeed and we work to inspire a determination within the Academy for all to achieve the highest of expectations. We aim to fully maximise student success by ensuring that all students are provided with rich, high quality educational opportunities, within our culture of high aspiration where achievement is recognised and celebrated. It is our determination to ensure that all students at the Academy progress, achieve and are provided with the support and challenge to excel.

Our vision is to be an outstanding Academy, with a total commitment to improving the lives of the young people of Islington by serving the local community as a vibrant centre of learning, known for our academic excellence and our unrelenting determination for everyone to succeed.

We firmly believe that every student is entitled to a rich and varied curriculum. We seek to nurture critically curious students with high aspirations and a love of learning. As such, we provide a program of study which is both challenging and inspiring and seek to develop powerful knowledge and skills. This approach empowers students at COLAI to understand the key concepts, ideas and narratives that are central to building social capital: our curriculum serves as a clear pathway to higher education, the world of work and to civic participation.

Students at COLAI follow a traditional academic curriculum. We believe that no matter what their starting point, all students can achieve. We believe that ability – rather than being a fixed quantity - is something that can be grown and developed. Our meticulous tracking system enables us to intervene quickly to provide bespoke support for individual students.

We believe everything that happens at the City of London Academy Islington contributes to a young person’s education and their capacity to learn. As such we have the highest standards for learning both in the classroom and outside of it. The curriculum at City of London Academy Islington aims to:

• Develop a robust conceptual understanding of specific academic disciplines and build subject specific expertise, knowledge and skill
• Meet the range of needs and interests of all learners so that no student is left behind
• Maximise the academic attainment for all students
• Ensure that students develop skills and mind-sets essential for ongoing learning, university success and the world of work
• Ensure that students have high aspirations and self-esteem, and that they take responsibility for their learning and personal development
• Ensure that students are prepared to make informed choices about their future

Welcome to COLAI-6. We are a small and dynamic sixth form. Our aim is to provide our sixth form students with an outstanding academic experience that will prepare them exceptionally well for higher education and the career path of their choosing. We welcome applications from our current Year 11 students and from external candidates.

We offer a friendly and supportive learning environment, with a strong focus on academic rigour, self discipline and the highest educational aspirations. We support our students to achieve their very best and to equip themselves with the individualised support and smaller class sizes enabling our students to make outstanding progress.

Our primary focus is on providing a highly academic curriculum, with the majority of courses of offer being A Levels. We also have a vocational pathway for students who would benefit from this style of learning and assessment.

We are proud to announce our biggest ever range extra-curricular clubs. From sports, to performing Arts, to study support, we believe that our diverse range of after-school and lunchtime clubs offers something for everyone.

We are committed to nurturing rounded young people and we believe that clubs and hobbies provide opportunities for personal growth which will supplement the skills that students gain in the classroom.