Blackpool Aspire Academy

Blackpool Aspire Academy is a secondary school located in the Layton area of Blackpool, Lancashire, England.The school was formed in 2014 by merging Collegiate High School with Bispham High School Arts College. It was temporarily located on Bispham Road until new buildings were constructed on Blackpool Old Road near the border with the Borough of Wyre and close to the village of Carleton and also Poulton-le-Fylde.School historyThe original school at the site was the all-boys Blackpool Grammar School, which had relocated from the original premises on Raikes Parade to Blackpool Old Road in 1961. In 1971 they amalgamated with Collegiate Girls School whose pupils and staff moved to Blackpool Old Road to create Blackpool Collegiate Grammar School. The sixth form moved to a new Sixth Form Centre premises further down Blackpool Old Road also in 1971 and what is now the independent Blackpool Sixth Form College which split from the school in 1989. The school became Collegiate High School in 1974. The last Headteacher was Ms Cordeaux, followed by acting head Mr Topping for a short while. In 2012, the school achieved its best ever results.Plans to merge Collegiate with Bispham High School Arts College were under discussion 2012-14. The new merged school (named Blackpool Aspire Academy) is currently under construction, due to be finished September 2014, and is sponsored by the Fylde Coast Academy Trust. The school is temporarily housed at the former Bispham High School campus, but will relocate to new buildings at the Collegiate site during 2015.