Good Ofsted report for Northampton Academy

Northampton Academy has had a good Ofsted report

Inspectors visited the school at the end of February.

Inspectors praised the “culture of high aspirations and ambition” which Principal Anne Hill and her leadership team have established. The inspectors described Mrs Hill’s approach to school improvement as “unrelenting” and commended her for striving “for even better standards”.

In their report, the inspectors identified a number of areas which have improved significantly since their last visit in January 2013 and have led to rapidly improving student outcomes. In particular, they noticed improvements in the quality of teaching and student behaviour. The inspectors also reported that attendance has “improved significantly” and is now “better than national averages”.

They were also impressed with the standard of the academy’s pastoral care and safeguarding arrangements.

Inspectors praised the academy’s Sixth Form provision which ensures that no student leaves the academy without employment, education or training placements. They described outcomes in the Sixth Form as “good and improving” citing that over 85 per cent of Sixth Formers go on to university with 25 per cent taking up places at prestigious Russell Group institutions.

The report says that next steps for the school are to ensure that the support of new leaders is in place and monitored to help drive improvements, especially in science and history and to monitor and support improvements in the quality of teaching across the school further, so that more teaching matches the best in the school.

Principal of Northampton Academy, Anne Hill, said: “We are greatly encouraged by the Ofsted judgement which is testament to the hard work and commitment of the school’s staff. I am particularly pleased that the inspectors noticed our commitment to continuous improvement. As a school, we are always striving to outperform our previous best and it is gratifying that the inspectors mentioned this in their report.

“I am also delighted that inspectors noticed how ambitious and well-behaved our students are and so this report is a credit to them just as much as it is to the staff, our governors and United Learning.”