19 April 2024
Message from the Head Teacher
I hope you are well and enjoyed the Easter break. As you may recall, Ofsted visited Sutton House Academy on 6th and 7th March for an official inspection of the school and I am delighted to share the news with you today that our academy has been rated as Good in all areas.
The inspection report says that the school has “high expectations” and “wants the best” for the pupils, and adds that while most pupils settle in quickly when they join the school, good support is given to those who struggle at first, helping them gain confidence over time. This leads to strong relationships between pupils and staff, with pupils “responsive to the high expectations promoted across all aspects of school life”. Alongside “the carefully adapted curriculum, this enables individuals to succeed” and “pupils achieve well”.
Ofsted also said that the school had improved significantly since its previous inspection in 2021 when it was rated Requires Improvement.
As you can imagine, we are all thrilled by Ofsted’s findings and I would urge you to read the report in full, which you can be found at the bottom of this page.
However, I have picked out some of the many highlights below for you, including that:
- “The school is equally ambitious for pupils’ academic achievement as it is for their social, emotional and mental health.” “The school plans the curriculum well for pupils’ different needs and abilities ensuring that they can achieve well. The curriculum helps pupils to engage in their learning successfully, including in reading, writing and mathematics."
- “Pupils of all ages play nicely together in the playground. Some of the older pupils support the younger ones in lessons such as meditation and yoga. This helps raise all pupils’ self-esteem.”
- There are “high expectations” for all elements of the academy and “high ambitions” for pupils to achieve well.
- The academy offers “high-quality support” that meets pupils’ needs, so they are ready to learn.
- Pupils enjoy and “appreciate” taking part in extra-curricular activities that enrich their academy experience, including the Duke of Edinburgh Award.
- “The school ensures that reading is a high priority in all key stage. Daily phonics and reading sessions ensure that pupils learn to read fluently. Pupils who struggle to learn to read are identified quickly. They receive extra support to help them to catch up. Consequently pupils progress well through the reading curriculum and most become confident readers.”
- Behaviour at the academy is good, “pupils behave well”, and staff are “skilful” in identifying signs that could lead to challenging behaviour and “effective” in addressing them.
- Attendance has been improving thanks to hard work from academy leaders.
I want to thank our brilliant staff for their commitment, our wonderful pupils for their hard work, the support we have had from our sponsor trust, Parallel Learning Trust, ahead of our planned transfer to the excellent Thinking Schools Academy Trust – and you, our parent and carer body, for all your support. We should all be very proud of the transformation of our academy.
Yours faithfully,
Alexis Bull
Headteacher
Please see below Ofted Report
