Culture & Environment

We maintain this positive response with a culture that is aligned with the way young people learn:

• Inclusive of everyone, whatever their strengths and weaknesses are
• A focus on connecting people and forming relationships
• Importance placed more on personal development, rather than outcome
• Daily schedules are flexible to maximise connection to programmes
• Regular wellness check-ins
• No more than 100 students in the school, so each pupil gets the attention they need
• Lead teachers are allocated a maximum of 25 students each, and become the figure of a supporter, mentor and friend

All staff at The Academy are carefully selected because they fit the school’s purpose and values. They each have impressive credentials in both their professional and academic career, and have been heavily involved in football for a large portion of their lives. All teaching staff have played football or coached at a VFL or higher level.

Teachers choose to work at The Academy because it enables them to align their passions of football and education. They’re also able to form stronger connections to students because they share the same interests and have led a similar life path.

Disengagement at other schools is largely because teachers struggle to relate to the students, and we’ve been able to eliminate this problem at The Academy. All staff are passionate about personal growth and they relay this to the students.