British space scientist joins Great Western Academy students for official opening

After planning began in 2015 Tadpole Garden Village's latest development, Great Western Academy, was officially opened this week.

Since welcoming its first batch of year 7 students in September, Swindon's Great Western Academy has been officially opened.

To mark the occasion the secondary school hosted a celebratory assembly which included a talk from British space scientist and educator Dr Maggie Aderin-Pocock MBE, and performances from students including The Voice Kids finalist Lilia Slattery.

Tadpole Garden Village's new £21M school, developed by Crest Nicholson, boasts facilities including a theatre, sports hall, dance studio, drama studio and specialist science and technology rooms. The school currently holds places for up to 1,200 pupils which is set to include a Sixth Form in 2019.

Graham Davis, Principal of the Great Western Academy, said: "Our mission is to create an exceptional Academy that radically improves our students’ career chances. We want every learner to do well enough to go on to realise their ambitions by achieving excellent results, providing the care that will support them to do so and ensuring an unrivalled range of educational opportunities to help build their skills and confidence.”

Andrew Dobson, Managing Director of Crest Nicholson’s Strategic Projects division, added: “The new Great Western Academy offers opportunity to thousands of children ensuring they receive an education with the best enrichment opportunities and facilities. It is important for us to not only build homes but also deliver necessary community infrastructure such as schooling.

"A good education is invaluable, which is why we couldn’t be prouder to have played such a pivotal role in Swindon’s newest secondary school at Tadpole Garden Village.”