West Lakes Academy is a vibrant 11-18 secondary school nestled in the western edge of the picturesque Lake District of Cumbria, serving a dynamic community of 1,200 students. Since opening in September 2008 and moving into our state-of-the-art £26m building in 2012, we have been committed to delivering the highest quality education in an environment that inspires success.
Our vision is to succeed in ‘Changing Lives through Learning’ by providing the very best possible educational opportunities for young people in West Cumbria. We have extremely high hopes for all of our students and our highly skilled and enthusiastic members of staff encourage children to have high ambitions and to work hard to achieve these.
Mr Stephen Grant
West Lakes Academy is committed to the creation of a fully inclusive, aspirational, high achieving Centre of Excellence, firmly rooted in the local community. Our vision is to succeed in ‘Changing Lives through Learning’ by providing the very best possible educational opportunities for young people in West Cumbria.
Changing Lives Learning Trust is a Multi-Academy Trust with Sponsor Status and is a not for profit charity which sponsors primary and secondary academies.
🎨 Back to School in the Art Department! 🖌️
It’s been a fantastic start to the term, with students diving straight into creative projects across all year groups!
🌿 Year 7 have been exploring the theme ‘From the Ground’, creating beautiful prints using natural objects; leaves, twigs, and textures found in nature.
🦎 Year 8 are unleashing their imaginations in ‘Creatures’, experimenting with dry printing techniques to bring their mythical beasts and wild animals to life.
💀 Year 9 are getting technical with ‘Anatomy’, developing their tonal drawing skills through detailed studies of skulls, challenging but impressive work already emerging!
📸 Year 10 photography students are manipulating landscapes in exciting ways, learning how to transform everyday scenes into striking visual narratives.
We’re so proud of the energy and creativity on display already. Here's to an inspiring term ahead!
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🎨 Artists of the Week 🎉
• Misha B
• Thea Clements
• Layla Stewart
• Demi Gorman
• Maja Jedrezejczyk
• Georgiana Popa
👏 Well done to all our amazing artists! Chosen by the art department for outstanding creativity and effort.
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📣 Student Shoutout 📣
🌟 Huge congratulations to Bethany Mitchell (Year 10), who achieved the most merits out of all students in the academy yesterday! 🌟
This is an incredible achievement, and we are so proud of her. Well done, Bethany! 👏✨
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Yesterday, our sixth formers surprised Mr Grant for his birthday. They bought him a cake and some sweets, made him a card, and he joined them in the common room to enjoy it together.
A lovely way to celebrate! 🎂
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📚✨ Yesterday we launched our brand-new Paired Reading sessions, where some of our Year 12 students are teaming up with Year 8s to support and encourage their reading.
It was fantastic to see the older students acting as positive role models, helping to build confidence, fluency, and a real enjoyment of reading in our younger learners.
The Year 8s found the session really beneficial, and we loved watching those cross-year connections start to grow.
These sessions will now run every Monday and Thursday in the library.
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📣 Year 7 Parents & Carers
We still have some outstanding Data & Consent Forms for new starters. These are essential to ensure we have accurate information and the necessary permissions in place for your child.
📲 Follow these 3 easy steps to check and update your forms via Edulink—screenshots below to help!
Thanks for your support.
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🎶 Instrument Music Lessons – Limited Spaces Available! 🎶
Looking to learn a new instrument? We have some spaces left for music lessons this term!
📌 Contact Mr Turpin at turpinj@changinglives.education for full details on availability and pricing.
⏳ Spaces are limited, so be quick!
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🍳 Food Technology Update! 👩🍳👨🍳
We’re excited to share the delicious lineup of recipes our Year 7, 8, and 9 students will be cooking up during their Food Tech rotations this year! From hearty soups to tasty treats, there's lots to look forward to this year.
📚 All recipes will be available on Google Classroom and Edulink. Students without iPads can access paper copies. Practical groups are split into A and B.
👨🍳 Year 7 Recipes:
Vegetable Soup
Cheese Scones
Spaghetti Bolognaise
Fruit Crumble
Chicken Tikka
Cupcakes
👩🍳 Year 8 Recipes:
Minestrone Soup
Cookies
Chicken Kebab & Flatbread
Raspberry Buns
Beef Keema
👨🍳 Year 9 Recipes:
Leek & Potato Soup
Beef Chilli & Wedges
Jam Tarts
Sausage Pasta Bake
Muffins
Cottage Pie
✨ All recipes can be adapted to suit allergies and dietary needs. PP students will be provided with ingredients.
If you have any questions, feel free to get in touch.
Happy baking! —The Food Tech Department 🧁🍲🥗
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📱✨We’re looking forward to welcoming our Year 7 and Year 9 students to today’s iPad distribution event.
You’re welcome to attend any time between 3:30pm and 6:00pm.
A reminder for Year 9 students: please bring your current iPad, charger, and box (if available).
See you there!
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👋 Year 6 Open Evening – Thursday 18th September
We know choosing a secondary school is a big decision, and we’d love the chance to show you what we’re all about.
Come and meet our staff, including our new Headteacher Mr Grant, chat with current students, and take a look around. It’s a fun and relaxed evening where you can ask questions, see our spaces, and get a feel for life at WLA.
📍 Thursday 18th September
🕕 Visit us between 5:00pm - 7:00pm.
Everyone’s welcome — we hope to see you there!
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📚 Zayn, Eva and Nancy, our new Year 7s, getting stuck into a good book and making the most of the academy library today. #TodayAtWLA
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