Liverpool Echo | January 2009
by Ben Turner

A SCHOOL which has added plate spinning and karate to the timetable has won a national award for helping pupils flourish.

Receiving the plaudits is Alsop High in Walton which has become the first school in the city to be awarded a Challenge Award from the National Association for Able Children in Education (NACE). The award recognises schools which demonstrate “excellence in provision for able, gifted and talented pupils”.

Judges were blown away by the school’s rich curriculum and the way it is willing to act upon students’ suggestions such as introducing a rugby course.

NACE made Alsop only the 39th school in the UK to get the prestigious title after concluding it offers “a very wide range of enrichment activities such as working with practising artists and professionals, residential experiences and university-based activities. As a result pupils feel they belong to a community of gifted and talented young people which extends across and far beyond the school”.

Examples of its eye-catching provision include a visit just last week from an ensemble of circus performers whose workshops included plate spinning.

Educational trips are also held with locations as diverse as the Flanders World War One cemetery in Belgium to stays at UK universities.