Manchester Communication Academy becomes AFEC accredited

World Academy of Sport (WAoS) has had long term links with Manchester City Council (MCC), in the United Kingdom. Both entities have worked successfully on various strategic projects and have recently created a joint project to provide opportunities for Manchester schools to access the Athlete Friendly Education Centre (AFEC) accreditation framework whilst simultaneously being provided with local opportunities and experiences through MCRactive. MCRactive is a not-for-profit organisation established by MCC to inspire and encourage everyone to lead a more active and healthier lifestyle.

Manchester Communication Academy (MCA) recently completed the accreditation process and is now officially part of the global AFEC network.

The staff team at MCA believe passionately in the power of an excellent education to transform lives and provide new opportunities for students. One of these opportunities includes the Ambassadors project which is catered for gifted and talented students to further enhance their knowledge and understanding of sport. Amongst a number of responsibilities, these student leaders have opportunities to lead lessons and extracurricular sessions as well as assist the wider Physical Education staff team. Another strength to highlight at the school is the commitment of the key staff who have developed strong and long term relationships with student-athletes and their entourages and sports teams, such strong ties provides confidence in the schools ability to be ‘athlete friendly’.

Jamie Fearn OLY, Olympian AFEC Assessor, experienced his first virtual visit after assessing schools in-person before the pandemic. He came back on this particular format and shared his thoughts about the school:

“The virtual meetings ran with incredible efficiency and the highly effective process easily achieved the aims of the assessment and, I would suggest, with the added benefits of less disruption for teaching staff and normal functioning of the school.

“I was delighted to meet such incredible people, whose warmth and passion for their students was so clearly apparent and incredibly inspiring. Manchester Communication Academy is quite simply a remarkable and enviable learning environment. A thriving community made possible by highly dedicated and devoted teaching staff, who have put identifying and understanding the needs and challenges of their students at the centre of their thoughts and operation.

“Going above and beyond, the teaching staff show selfless dedication and creativity to meet individualised student needs and ensure students are strongly supported in becoming the best they can be in their studies, their personal development, and their future career aspirations.

“The school provides an excellent base, community hub, guidance and support whilst fostering an expectation and nurturing of self-reliance, responsibility, and accountability from their students.

“With a clear aim of counteracting any possible adverse effects which can accompany an area identified as disadvantaged, I would adjudge the school to be clearly exceeding this goal and most likely an enviable, shining example to many.”

Adam Heath, Teacher of Physical Education & Health at Manchester Communication Academy, positively reacted to this successful AFEC accreditation:

“Throughout the assessment day, we showcased the day-to-day work that our PE team performs at MCA. The PE team is extremely excited to continue to grow and refine our offer to our student-athletes with the AFEC team. We are happy that our passion for offering the very best experience of education in sport to our students has been recognised and can be enhanced by the AFEC team.

“We look forward to giving our students special experiences that will give them the very best chance to compete and develop their education of sport allowing them to have a number of opportunities to succeed in whatever path they decide to take.”

WAoS wishes all the best to Manchester Communication Academy and looks forward to working with them and other Manchester schools through this pilot project with MCRactive which along with the resources and benefits offered from being part of a global AFEC network will provide MCA students with localised experiences to their student-athletes and help them succeed in future endeavours.

11 March 2022

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