Demographics
Kensington Health Sciences Academy is a neighborhood school with a catchment area around the school from which it draws students. In addition, students residing anywhere in Philadelphia can apply to the Health Sciences or Dental field programs. In total, KHSA has about 400 students. 100 percent of these students are considered by the School District of Philadelphia as economically disadvantaged. Representing the demographic majority, Latino students make up 55 percent of the student body. Next are African-American students, making up 33 percent of the student body. White students make up about 8 percent of the student body. Asian students and students that identify as “other” each represent 2 percent respectively.
Health sciences focus
Health Sciences Focus
In 2009, the school began to offer Health Related Technologies courses, and in 2011 added Dental Assisting. In 2012, the school adopted the name Kensington Health and Sciences Academy to reflect the concentration in the health sciences it offers.
KHSA offers two health sciences programs to its students, Health Related Technologies and Dental Assisting, and plans to add a Pharmacy Technician program this year. Students must apply to these programs, and they begin in 10th grade. In both programs, students take 2 course credits per year in specialized classes. Currently, KHSA has 2 members of the faculty who teach these courses.
In 2009, the school began to offer Health Related Technologies courses, and in 2011 added Dental Assisting. In 2012, the school adopted the name Kensington Health and Sciences Academy to reflect the concentration in the health sciences it offers.
KHSA offers two health sciences programs to its students, Health Related Technologies and Dental Assisting, and plans to add a Pharmacy Technician program this year. Students must apply to these programs, and they begin in 10th grade. In both programs, students take 2 course credits per year in specialized classes. Currently, KHSA has 2 members of the faculty who teach these courses.
school history
Kensington Health Sciences is a young school with old roots. It is part of the Kensington Schools Complex, which is made up of 4 neighborhood schools. In 2005, in an effort to improve the quality of Kensington schools, Kensington High, which had about 1,400 students, was broken up into three schools. The three schools were Kensington Business, Kensington Culinary Arts, and Kensington Creative and Performing Arts. In 2010, the district added Kensington Urban Education. You may be wondering, where is Kensington Health Sciences? Well, it actually used to be Kensington Culinary Arts! However, the school phased out this concentration and brought in the more promising health sciences program.
On the school’s website it says, “in 2009 our school began offering Health Related Technology courses. Dental Assisting courses were also added to the curriculum in 2011.” Although KHSA began offering Health Related Technology courses in 2009, it was not until 2012 when it officially changed its name from Kensington Culinary Arts to Kensington Health Sciences Academy. This new name and focus offers more promise than the old. Principal James Williams, who came to the school in 2009, has heartily pursued the health science focus, and has initiated plans and is gathering funding to build a special health sciences facility. In large part owed to the work of Principal Williams, Pennsylvania Governor Tom Wolf visited Kensington Health Sciences Academy in April 2015 as part of his “Schools that Teach” initiative; he calls KHSA as a place where students “are here because they want opportunity.”