A city school in a deprived area meets challenges with imagination and dynamism The school: St Mary’s Catholic Academy is a large, voluntary-aided secondary in a deprived area of Blackpool. It has 1,200 pupils, the majority of whom are white British and an above-average number of whom receive free school meals. Built on the site of a nineteenth-century convent, Layton Hill, it recently completed a £22.5 million refurbishment, which was funded by Blackpool’s Building Schools for the Future strategy. As well as relocating Christ the King Primary School to the site in a brand new building and incorporating the parish church, the project refurbished most of the school, including St Mary’s Chapel, and installed a wind turbine while preserving the ancient convent front