In a League of its Own

The Academy is a school like no other in the region. It’s on a mission to keep passionate footballers engaged in a school while fostering a high performance mindset. Former AFL star Alex Rance co-founded The Academy five years ago, offering male students in year 11 and 12 the opportunity to undertake VCAL in an […]

Sponsorship Applications

“Students put their best boots forward” Term 2 in year 11 sees students get a taste for life as a professional sporting athlete through working towards their first boot sponsorship. In students’ My Take 1 unit (literacy skills) students are tasked with preparing and submitting an application to their favourite footy boots manufacturer to gain sponsorship for […]

Wangaratta Campus: a class of their own!

2021 saw The Academy, in partnership with GOTAFE, expand into Victoria’s north-east region with the opening of the first Wangaratta campus. Identified as a region burgeoning with families that live and breathe football, with young players that align closely with the purpose and mission of The Academy, Wangaratta presented itself as a perfect fit for […]

Student in the Spotlight: Joseph Heffernan

Some of The Academy’s greatest assets is each and every student that pulls on their uniform and gives their all to the experience. One of those students is Year 12 Geelong campus student, Joseph Heffernan. We caught up with Joey and let him tell us a bit more about himself and what he likes about […]

Battle of the Businesses

“Boys battle their businesses for a cause” Every year, one of the most popular tasks that year 12s students complete across all campuses is Battle of the Business in their Real World (Personal Development) subject. In this task, students work in groups to form a fictional company with the objective to raise awareness and fund-raise […]

Teacher in the Spotlight: Justin McMahon

Steering the first class of the new Wangaratta campus is the North-East region well-loved coach/teacher/mentor, Justin McMahon. We caught up with Justin to ask a few questions about his background in both the football and education industry and find out what drew him to take on such an important role at The Academy. The Academy: […]

Academy Athlete

“Academy Athlete – re-inventing the way to measure students’ progress” At The Academy we are redefining the way we profile young athletes. Academy Athlete has been specifically designed to better reflect and measure students’ progress in the fundamentals of AFL. Twice a year students participate in athletic profiling measures equivalent to what is seen at […]

Bushrangers Testing Blitz

RICHMOND premiership defender Alex Rance will team up with the Murray Bushrangers to run a testing trial day next week to help select the club’s 2021 under 16-boys squad. Rance founded The Academy, a year 11 and 12 full time education program centered around Australian rules football that sees students graduate with a Victoria Certificate […]

AFL based school prepares to launch

The Academy is getting ready to launch their new Wangaratta campus next month with the final stepping stones put in place. The year 11 and 12 VCAL,AFL base school is a full time education program that provides an alternative to standard year 11 and 12 schooling with contextualised curriculum that is centred around AFL. Students […]

Former star Tiger Alex Rance on The Academy, his future and the AFL Grand Final

His football academy has a campus in Geelong but don’t expect that to sway the heart of Alex Rance when it comes to the AFL Grand Final. The former Tigers champion gives his thoughts on Saturday’s big game and what the future holds for his academy. Premiership Tiger Alex Rance has tipped his former team […]