A Whitehawk school has been rated good with outstanding features after a two-day inspection by the official education watchdog Ofsted.
The outcome marks a remarkable turnaround for the City Academy Whitehawk, in Whitehawk Road, which is now run by the Aurora Academies Trust.
The academy was set up just over 10 years ago – in September 2013 – after the previous school o the site, Whitehawk Primary School, was rated inadequate and placed in special measures.
Today (Wednesday 19 June), Ofsted published a report saying that the school was good overall and had outstanding leadership and management.
Behaviour and attitudes were outstanding, personal development was outstanding and early years provision was outstanding while the quality of education was good.
The school was inspected by three inspectors over two days – Wednesday 8 May and Thursday 9 May.
The school said: “The report is the latest in a long line of successes since the school joined Aurora Academies trust in September 2017 and leaves the community with a school to be truly proud of.
“In the report, inspectors repeatedly acknowledged the high expectations that permeate every aspect of the school and said: ‘Pupils thrive in a culture of high expectations.’
“Praise was heaped on the nursery and reception classes where inspectors found that ‘children get off to an exceptional start’ and that the ‘rigorous and carefully ordered knowledge’ in the curriculum raises aspirations and broadens horizons as pupils progress through school.
“Inspectors described playtimes as ‘joyous’ and judged pupils’ behaviour to be outstanding due to the excellent support and care they receive from staff.
“The personal development curriculum was labelled ‘exemplary’ and inspectors went on to say: ‘Pupils develop a deep sense of equality and maturity and see themselves as “agents of change” in their community.’”
Ofsted made one suggestion for improvement, saying: “The impact of the curriculum is not yet fully evident in mathematics. This means that pupils do not achieve as well as they could by the end of key stage 2.
“The school must ensure that staff continue to follow the planned curriculum, carefully check what pupils remember over time and address gaps swiftly.”
Head teacher Thomas McMorrin said: “I am so proud of this report and the fact that it captures the amazing work of the dedicated staff team and the positive impact it has on our pupils, their families and the amazing Whitehawk community.
“I had the privilege of joining the school as deputy head teacher in 2017 and am thrilled with how our staff team has continued to go from strength to strength, serving the children of Whitehawk with such commitment, compassion and skill.
“I’m absolutely overjoyed that our school’s approaches have been described as ‘inspirational and systematic’ and how they are enabling our children to go on to achieve great things.
“We pride ourselves on being a school with incredibly high expectations where everyone belongs and we couldn’t be happier that this is reflected in our glowing Ofsted report and reflected in the feedback given to inspectors by our families.”
Aurora Academies Trust chief executive James Freeston said: “We are delighted that the leadership of the school was judged to be outstanding.
“Mr McMorrin is an inspirational head teacher who is incredibly well supported by his leadership team, local academy board and Aurora Academies Trust.
“Together they have created a wonderful school where children benefit from the highest quality of education.
“The strength of the report is underlined by the single area for the school to improve where inspectors asked school staff to continue to follow the maths curriculum and check what pupils learn over time.”
Local academy board chair Janis Taylor said: “As LAB members we are so proud to be involved and working with the school. The Ofsted outcome is so well deserved and brilliant for the whole community.”
The chair of trustees, Martha Burnige, said: “We are extremely proud of the excellent education children receive at City Academy Whitehawk.
“The school is a hugely important part of the local community and this report demonstrates the great work it does to prepare children for success as they grow up.”
Always nice to hear positive things about education in Brighton, especially here and given where it started from in 2017.
Very well deserved success and as a grandparent, I have seen how hard the staff and community of parents and carers, the supporting agencies and everyone else have continued to improve, year upon year over the past 7 years with each child as the main focus of their own achievements.
The staff know the children well, and support each child according to individual needs, and with such a high percentage of children with some form of SEND. (approximately a third, I think, all categories), this shows how much everyone has gone beyond the mark to ensure all children attain their very best, and providing children with caring, well developed social skills to give then a good basis for starting secondary school.
It is such a pleasure to see the smiling faces from everyone, from the smallest to older children and staff, parents and carers throughout the school and play areas.
Children care for each other and there is a prefect system and school ambassadors elected by their peers to model good values and behaviour throughout the school.
Achieving 4 of the 5 categories as outstanding, and one category (mainly maths development) as good is exceptional progress since becoming an Academy, showing such superb leadership and goals.
It is a pity OFSTED. reports do not give marks for the base standard of children starting nursery and reception, until their final achievements in Year 6, and how much input has been put into each child to attain high standards, and if this were the case, then City Academy Whitehawk would be near the top of school tables of all categories!
An amazing school. They know all children exceptionally well and my daughter is absolutely thriving there. I couldn’t recommend the school enough and I’m so pleased they’ve got the recognition they deserved. It’s a joyous place to be!