Acklam Grange School Ofsted Report 2022
Students, staff and the whole Acklam Grange Family are celebrating today after gaining high praise from Ofsted following their recent ungraded inspection. The school, which is part of The Legacy Learning Trust, has been recognised for its continued impressive GCSE results, student outcomes and the part it plays within the Middlesbrough community.
As a proud multi-cultural school, Ofsted recognised that it was a place where leaders ensure difference is celebrated with one pupil telling an inspector that “The school allows us to embrace our culture”.
The Inspectors described how “Leaders go the extra mile to ensure that pupils are cared for, nurtured and developed with an unwavering belief amongst staff that all students can make a success of their time in school, regardless of their background”. The report also recognised that there is “exceptional pastoral care available to all pupils” and the “educational provision for students with special educational needs or disabilities benefit from personalised support and skilful adapted teaching.”
They also praised the pupils’ behaviour by describing it as “impressive” and that the school was a place where “Pupils trust adults and feel safe, bullying is rare and not tolerated with incidents of poor behaviour being infrequent”. The way the school keeps pupils safe and safeguards its pupils was also highlighted as a real strength with “systems in place that are robust with an established culture of vigilance”.
The quality of education that all pupils receive includes a “curriculum that is broad, ambitious and well considered with individual subject curriculums being well designed and well taught”. It was not just in the classroom the inspectors were impressed with the report highlighting that pupils “Personal Development is high on leaders’ agenda” and that there is a “wealth of extra-curricular activities available to pupils”. The school’s AGS PRIDE values were also highlighted as being “high quality” and “supporting the students’ development into active citizens”.
Michael Laidler, Headteacher at Acklam Grange, said:
“I am delighted that Ofsted have recognised all that has been achieved by our amazing staff and students on a daily basis over the past 6 years since their last visit. We would have liked a full inspection to allow for our overall grade to be improved to Outstanding but this was not possible during this inspection. It has been a challenging few years for all our community and for our students to achieve the GCSE results they have year after year with attendance so much better than the national average, it shows what a special place Acklam Grange is. It also demonstrates the talent in the North East and shows that all our students can achieve and go on to be whatever they want to be! This has also confirmed to us that if Ofsted do visit again for a full graded inspection we are very well placed to build on this success and achieve ‘Outstanding’.”
Sarah Lymer, CEO of The Legacy Learning Trust, also commented that:
“I am so proud of everyone connected to our exceptional school and feel that this inspection report shines a light on all that has been achieved over a number of years by the dedicated staff at Acklam Grange under the strong leadership of the Headteacher, Michael Laidler. We are pleased that the inspection team were able to spend time looking carefully at so many aspects of the school’s work and saw the impact of not only the academic rigour and well-planned curriculum but also the high standards of pastoral care and rigorous safeguarding culture.”