Bacon’s College has a proud history of educating the young people of Bermondsey and the surrounding areas for over 300 years, we have been officially rated as a ‘Good’ school following an Ofsted inspection in June 2022.
Bacon’s College has a proud history of educating the young people of Bermondsey and the surrounding areas for over 300 years. Bacon’s College became part of the United Learning group of schools in 2018, it has been officially rated as a ‘Good’ school following an Ofsted inspection in June 2022.
The report states that ‘Pupils have positive attitudes to their learning and they behave well in their lessons. They settle down quickly and focus on their learning. Teachers apply the school behaviour policy consistently. As a result, disruption in lessons is rare’.
Ofsted reports give a grade for Overall Effectiveness, plus the quality of education; behaviour and attitudes; personal development; leadership and management and sixth form provision. Bacon’s College was graded ‘Good’ in each area.
Principal, James Wilson commented
‘We’ve worked for 5 years for this so it means the world to us. It’s taken an awful lot of hard work and determination from the staff and the whole school community to get the College to this point. The Good rating really does confirm that parents and carers can have absolute trust and confidence that we will provide a really good education for their child. We care deeply for our students here, they feel safe and supported, they achieve well and we are ambitious for each and every one.’
‘We have worked very hard to improve standards of behaviour and Ofsted confirmed that pupils behave well in lessons. Students come here from a wide variety of different backgrounds and abilities and receive a good education in a learning environment that is free of disruption.’
The report also noted that Bacon’s College staff are ambitious for students ‘Pupils achieve well and leaders are ambitious for pupils to do better.’
Vice-Principal, Angela Anum explained
‘This means that we want all students to achieve well and really fulfil their true potential. At Bacon’s, students receive a rich and broad education, they are cared for and supported in their personal development, but they are also pushed to achieve the best possible outcomes and leave us with a great set of results. We don’t believe that we would be doing justice to our young people if we did not exhort them to achieve well.’
‘Bacon’s School’ started out above the porch of the church of St Mary Magdalen, Bermondsey, in 1703. Wealthy leather merchant, Josiah Bacon, left a large sum of money in his will to build a free school for poor boys in his home town to ‘teach spelling, arithmetic & merchant’s accomplishments’.
The school was relocated to nearby Grange Road in 1860 and was subsequently relocated again in 1962 to Pages Walk as a mixed secondary modern school. Bacon’s College opened on the current site in 1991 as part of the development of Docklands area of Rotherhithe, as a City Technical College with an extensive community sports centre. It converted to academy status in 2007 but following concerns over its performance, Bacon’s College opened as a new school in 2018 as part of United Learning.