What Spires Academy does

Spires Academy, legally Orion Spires Academy, is a UK state-funded secondary school located on Bredlands Lane in Sturry, just outside Canterbury, Kent, England. It operates within the E21C Multi Academy Trust, branded as Orion Education, alongside sister schools including Orion Eden Park, Orion Coopers, Orion Scotts Park, and Orion Blenheim. The school serves students aged 11-16 across Years 7-11, delivering the UK national curriculum with GCSE preparation, a personal development program (enrichment, student leadership, pastoral care, careers, PSHE), and tailored SEND support. Its core business model is non-commercial state education: funding flows from per-pupil government allocations rather than tuition fees, with supplementary revenue generated from facility hire (sports hall, dance studio, MUGA, classrooms available weekday evenings and weekends) and Initial Teacher Training partnerships with TES Institute, Teach First, and Kent universities. The school operates as a private educational institution under the UK academy framework, governed by the trust's board of trustees, with no private equity or venture capital ownership. It maintains standard educational technology infrastructure (Arbor Pay, SharePoint, Microsoft webmail) with no proprietary technology product or AI capabilities.

Name

Spires Academy

Legal name

Orion Spires Academy

Website

https://spiresacademy.com

Company type

Private

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

1–10 employees

Short description

Orion Spires is a UK state-funded secondary school in Canterbury, Kent, serving students aged 11-16 within the Orion Education Multi Academy Trust, delivering GCSE curriculum, personal development programs, and teacher training partnerships.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Headquarters

HQ city

Canterbury

HQ country

United Kingdom

HQ region

Europe

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2C

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Infrastructure, Marketing or Sales, Others

Distribution channels3 records

Marketing channels4 records

Core offering

Spires Academy (Orion Spires) is a state-funded UK secondary school providing comprehensive education for students aged 11-16 (Years 7-11), delivering the national curriculum with GCSE examination preparation alongside personal development, pastoral care, careers guidance, and SEND support. The school also generates supplementary revenue through facility hire (sports hall, dance studio, MUGA, classrooms) and offers Initial Teacher Training programmes in partnership with TES Institute and Teach First.

Product overview

Spires Academy operates as a single secondary school within the Orion Education Trust (E21C Multi Academy Trust). The school offers a unified educational service providing secondary school education (Years 7-11) with a comprehensive curriculum including core subjects (English, Mathematics, Science), humanities, creative arts, and vocational programs. The school's personal development offerings include enrichment activities, student leadership programs, careers education, and pastoral support. Additional services include Initial Teacher Training programs and facilities hire to the local community.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Quantifiable outcome

• Ofsted recognizes that pupils feel safe, build impressive linguistic vocabulary, and that every pupil with SEND has a tailored support plan
• +1 more outcomes

Segments3 records

Ideal customer profiles3 records

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Partnerships

Six partnerships are on record, tiered minor and core.

• Sutton TrustminorOthers · 7 April 2026Orion Education (parent trust) was recognized with the Sutton Trust Fair Admissions Gold Award, reflecting commitment to widening access and strengthening opportunity across its schools. All schools within the trust now prioritise pupils eligible for pupil premium for 20% of available places.
• Orion Education (E21C Multi Academy Trust)coreStrategic or Co-development PartnerSpires Academy is part of Orion Education (formerly E21C Multi Academy Trust), a multi-academy trust built on core values of trust, kindness, and endeavour. The trust provides governance, resources, and strategic direction for the academy, enabling shared best practices across member schools. The trust recently announced new trustees to strengthen governance and strategic leadership.
• TES InstitutecoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerPartnership with TES Institute for fee-paying teacher training courses. The blended learning programme combines school-based training, online training sessions, experienced specialists as mentors, and high-quality professional training sessions. Trainees are treated as staff members and attend staff meetings and development sessions.
• Teach FirstcoreStrategic or Co-development PartnerTeach First School Centred Initial Teacher Training (SCITT) programme delivered by approved local training partners. Trainees spend most of each week working as a member of teaching staff in a local school, with six weeks in other schools for broader experience. Available from September 2024.
• Local Universities (Kent)minorStrategic or Co-development PartnerPartnership with local universities in Kent to support various routes into teaching, including Postgraduate Teaching Apprenticeships and other teacher training pathways.
• Teaching Apprenticeships (Kent)minorStrategic or Co-development PartnerWork-based route into teaching through nationally recognised postgraduate teaching apprenticeship programmes, offering postgraduate-level qualification, no tuition fees, and the opportunity to earn while learning.

Recent moves6 records

Expansion highlights5 records

Direct peers

• Bennett Memorial Diocesan School: A state-funded secondary school in the Kent/Tunbridge Wells area, directly comparable in age range, curriculum model and parental-choice competitive set.
• Orion Eden Park: A sister school within the E21C Multi Academy Trust (Orion Education), operating as a secondary academy under the same governance, branding and trust-level resource-sharing model as Orion Spires.
• Orion Scotts Park: Sister secondary academy within Orion Education, sharing the same trust branding, central services and multi-academy operating model.
• Orion Blenheim: A fourth secondary academy within E21C MAT, providing direct comparability on per-pupil funding, governance and trust-shared services.
• Orion Coopers: Another E21C MAT secondary academy, directly comparable in governance, funding model, curriculum structure and central-trust support arrangements.

Regional players

• Simon Langton Grammar School for Boys: A selective grammar school in Canterbury, Kent, competing for the same Year-7 parental-choice pool in the same local authority area.
• The King's School, Canterbury: A long-established secondary school in Canterbury, Kent, competing in the same regional parental-choice market though operating under an independent rather than state-funded model.

Broad incumbents

• Harris Federation: One of the UK's largest Multi Academy Trusts, comparable in operating model (state-funded secondary academies under central MAT governance) but at materially greater scale and geographic reach.

Market position

Strengths4 records

Weaknesses4 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights6 records

Customer concentration

• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/spires-academy

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Spires Academy