Ofsted Success!

I am delighted to report we have had an extremely successful OFSTED inspection, and attach the final report. Whilst this is an ungraded inspection, the report confirms that we have retained our ‘Outstanding’ judgement for Leadership and Management, and now, for the first time, it has been acknowledged that we have areas of ‘exceptional’ practice in our school. It was highlighted that the school goes ‘above and beyond to prepare its pupils for their next steps’. Simply, this is a fantastic report and I would like to thank all stakeholders of the school for ensuring that we continue to move forward with great success. 

There are so many areas to celebrate, and the OFSTED inspectors were extremely impressed with every area of the school. The areas below highlight these successes.

Quality of Education

We have now received the validated outcomes for 2023/2024. This has confirmed our overall outcomes at 0.3, a third of a grade above the national average. A key focus within our Academy Improvement Plan (AIP) has been on ensuring ‘100% participation’ within lessons, with all students thinking and working hard throughout the lesson. The report highlights that this is being achieved:

• The school has set high standards in class. 
• Pupils are expected to work hard and commit to their learning. 
• There is a demanding curriculum and pupils achieve well. 
• The school has been especially successful with pupils who attained less well at primary school. Pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND), and those from disadvantaged backgrounds, gain knowledge securely.
• The school has excellent systems to support pupils with SEND. Teachers apply these rigorously, helping those pupils to achieve their potential.

Our Academy Improvement focus on reading was singled out for praise, highlighting the excellent work and impact that is happening within this area:

• Reading is paramount in this school. The mantra is that ‘every teacher is a teacher of reading.’ Pupils routinely and explicitly learn new vocabulary. 
• They revisit it regularly until they are fluent. 
• Pupils who have fallen behind with their reading get additional support to catch up. They then make swift progress to close the gap. 
• Most pupils succeed in public examinations, but those who needed extra help with their reading perform exceptionally well.

OFSTED reported that it was ‘rare’ to only have one improvement point, and our one area focussed on ensuring teachers continue to check for misconceptions, when they are ‘occasionally’ missed. We remain committed to developing our teachers and improving teaching will always be central to our goal. 

Behaviour and Attitudes

A key focus within our Academy Improvement Plan has been on embedding our new behaviour policy of ‘Ready, Respectful, Safe’ and further raising expectations. In the last 15 months, we have significantly revised our behaviour systems and worked on ensuring that we have a ‘warm strict’ approach. We were delighted that this was seen within our OFSTED inspection , with inspectors highlighting that:

• It is a very happy and safe school. 
• Staff know their pupils well and relationships are strong. 
• Pupils have confidence in staff to sort out problems if they occur. 
• A reinvigorated behaviour policy has reaped huge rewards. Staff make sure that pupils behave well. Rules are applied rigorously, but fairly. 
• Learning is rarely disrupted by poor behaviour. Pupils now attend more regularly and get to lessons on time. 
• The school has a culture of courtesy and respect. 
• Pupils look out for each other and bullying is extremely rare.
• The school has raised the bar for pupil conduct in recent years. 
• Higher expectations of good behaviour has paid dividends. 
• Pupils treat staff, and each other, with respect. As a result, pupils get on with their learning with little interruption.

As we know nationally, attendance is a significant challenge. As we are aware in our locality, we have faced increased challenges with local transport and increased numbers of students travelling to and from school from further distances. The report confirms that the school has taken every step possible to ensure that our students now attend well:

• Following the pandemic, pupils were not attending school regularly enough. This was especially true for pupils from disadvantaged backgrounds and those pupils with SEND. The school has gone to great lengths to improve this. Pupils now attend well.

Personal Development

We are extremely proud to have OFSTED acknowledge the progress being made on our new personal development curriculum. The response from students was overwhelmingly positive on our new super curriculum. Within the report, it has been highlighted that ‘There is an exceptional programme of enrichment, designed to appeal to all.' The OFSTED report highlighted the strong practice now in this area:

• The school wants its pupils to be ‘world ready’ and offers an exceptional extra-curricular programme to achieve this. The personal, social and health education course gives pupils detailed knowledge and a strong understanding of what it means to be a citizen. 
• Pupils are taught how to keep themselves safe. They show tolerance and respect for people who are different from them. 
• The school’s ‘super-curriculum’ ensures that all its key stage 3 pupils participate in exciting and interesting clubs. Older pupils take a lead in mock elections, international visits, eco-clubs, school performances and events in the local community.

Leadership and Management

We were delighted that Leadership and Management at all levels continued to be acknowledged as ‘Outstanding’. We were pleased that the OFSTED parent view showed that 90% of parents surveyed would now recommend the school, an increase in this time last year. In addition, 94% of parents and carers strongly agreed/agreed that their child can take part in clubs/activities, compared to 79% in October 2023.

I am extremely thankful to Governors for the support since arriving in September 2023. This was rightly recognised by OFSTED, in that ‘Trustees, governors and multi-academy trust officers provide wise counsel and clear direction. They help the school focus on what matters most’.

The report confirms that we are in a very strong position as a school, and I thank parents and carers for your support. This support has helped to create an environment, most importantly, where students are happy, feel safe and thrive. They simply shone throughout the inspection, as they do each day. Our recent improvements are positively impacting on both the culture of the school, and most importantly, our students. This led to our favourite line from the report which highlights this explicitly, and summarises the culture at the school:

‘As one pupil said, representing the views of many, ‘this is a school with something for everyone.’ 

Mr Harvey
Principal

Ofsted Report

You can read our full report at the bottom of this page.

Performance tables

Key DFE performance measures

Measure	2023
Attainment 8	47.3
Progress 8	0.36 Above Average
% Grade 5 or higher in Eng & Ma	41%
% Entering the Ebacc	72%
EBacc Average Point Score	4.37

Please note, these measures are updated by the DFE in October annually.

For additional outcome data follow the link below to view the most recent exam performance data:

https://www.compare-school-performance.service.gov.uk/school/144505/king's-academy-ringmer