Assistant Principal - Community

Brighton Aldridge Community Academy

It is my pleasure to welcome you to Brighton Aldridge Community Academy (BACA).

Our mission is to ensure all BACA students benefit from an excellent education, secure great qualifications and develop into young adults who are the first choice recruits for universities and employers.

The academy’s motto is simple - “Believe you can”. Whether in the classroom, on the sports field or performing on stage, we inspire each of our students to develop the knowledge and skills they need to follow their passions into a successful future.

Through encouraging an enterprising mindset we enable students to thrive in today's rapidly-changing world. We teach students to be innovative and resilient through promoting the Aldridge Attributes of teamwork, creativity, passion, problem-solving, risk-taking and determination in all aspects of academy life.

Never has the world felt more rapidly-changing than when the COVID-19 pandemic caused massive upheaval in all of our lives. I am incredibly proud of how our students, families and staff rose to that challenge, and that 97% of our parents told us that the academy did a good job under these challenging circumstances. In the same survey 98% of parents and 93% of our students told us I am proud to be a member of the BACA community.

Students joining us in Year 7 are embarking on an exciting seven-year journey. We are proud to be an 11-18 school that allows students to build on their successes at Key Stage 3 and GCSE to our sixth form.

We work closely with a community of industry partners, leading employers and our neighbouring universities to offer students a comprehensive careers advice and work-related learning programmes. Over 50 organisations, from Southern Water and Metro Bank to local solicitors and IT companies have come into the academy at different times in the last year to work with students, supporting their careers aspirations, helping them gain industry experience and building interview skills.

Our students also benefit from a rich offer in terms of the creative arts. The BACA 100 challenge gives them a wide range of experiences that help develop resilience, confidence and independence. Our sports facilities are exceptional and partnerships, such as that with Sussex Cricket, allow our students to combine high-quality training with their academic studies. BACA has again been named amongst the Cricketer Magazine’s Top100 schools for cricket in the country in 2020 and 2021, one of only four non-selective state secondary schools to achieve this.

BACA is a very special place. It is a privilege to lead it and I look forward to welcoming you to the academy.

Mr Jack Davies, Principal