Sapience Girls Academy (SGA) is dedicated to the provision of excellent education. We foster a safe and healthy learning environment and provide opportunities for growth, development, and success at all levels, academically, socially, physically, culturally, morally, and spiritually. We envision SGA to become a means to bridge the learning and employment gap in Oldham for young girls, to provide them with a platform to excel and overcome the challenges found in our economically deprived area. As of 2017, Oldham’s academic performance ranked below the national average in most measures. According to the trend highlighted in reports, Oldham finds itself consistently reflecting weak performance, in comparison to the national average however, there are often indications of ‘good level of development’. Particularly, secondary schools often reflect weak performance, however post 16 attainment is closer to the national average statistics, with better A-level performance.
However, at GCSE level, Oldham’s attainment level continues to be below average. Statistics also demonstrate, that although in Oldham and the Northwest, a similar proportion of students will sit their English, Maths and Science GCSE, however fewer students are likely to sit a Modern Foreign Language (MFL) GCSE. Only 34% of students will sit a MFL GCSE compared to the 45% of students in the Northwest and a further 48% of students in England overall. Additionally, fewer students in Oldham, approximately 68% will sit a humanities GCSE such as History or Geography compared to the Northwest and England 74% of students. Statistics also demonstrate a similar trend with regards to economic activity, higher education, and career prospects. The statistics unfortunately indicate students in Oldham may be disadvantaged and unable to receive a holistic and comprehensive educational and development experience, impacting their social, cultural, and academic capital. Which indicates the contribution of incomprehensive education to economic gaps, higher attainment levels, and even social segregation, ultimately impacting quality of life.
SGA is branch of Iqra Education and Welfare Trust (IEWT), located in the heart of Oldham since 2003. Hence, we have worked very closely with our local community in various capacities, our projects are catered to improving the social, moral, spiritual, and academic development of the locals regardless of their protected characteristics. Hence, we have developed strong links and developed valuable rapport with the inhabitants of Oldham. Our local community, particularly Glodwick is a centre for the BAME community of Oldham, which unfortunately face various challenges such as social integration, community cohesion and unfortunately consistently underperforms academically, Pakistani, and Bangladeshi students in particular have demonstrated significantly poor performance in comparison to their counterparts. In order to make a difference and deliver change in these trends, we believe it is imperative to provide a platform such as Sapience Girls Academy.
Particularly in light of the recent pandemic and the resulting learning gap, we believe SGA will be instrumental in instilling a positive change in the community by encouraging positive learning attitudes and instilling aspirations within its students to believe in themselves and achieve their potential. We often find young people, in our local community lowering their expectations due to lack of positive role models, being unable to access the right support, being unable to develop holistically and academically. SGA aims to raise socio-economic aspirations by correctly supporting learners which in the long term will strengthen the community and bridge social and economic gaps. Furthermore, we believe the right support at the right time can prevent many social issues in the long term, a comprehensive education will not only produce academics, but will also produce active citizens who will make positive contributions to their communities and enrich society.
SGA envisions to provide to provide a sound, holistic and comprehensive education underpinned by the Islamic faith. We aim to facilitate positive development and change in individuals to promote high and cultivate excellence. We aim to foster outstanding personal development skills and actively promote the development of a plethora of transferrable skills to ensure lifelong learning. We strongly believe all students have the capability to achieve and exceed their potential, our role will be to facilitate their success through inspiration, exceptional teaching, active learning, and immersive enrichment opportunities. We aim to instil passion, drive and enthusiasm towards learning and education. We envision to produce students who are highly skilled, confident, resilient, and enriched with social, moral, cultural, and spiritual capital who become the pioneers of society. We believe we have a moral duty to provide for and uplift our community out of cultural, socio-economic, and academic deprivation and provide a positive platform for transformational active learning.
