Talking to the Head Teacher and pupils at Field Court Infants, asking Grange Primary pupils to get involved in tree planting and visiting Altus School’s pupils
Education - a remarkable success story
Celebrating the 10th anniversary of the school I enabled and opened – Gloucester Academy: now the 11th most improved school in England
Last week children waited to find out which secondary school they will go to. The vast majority will get their first choice and the good news is that every secondary school in Gloucester now offers good education, good if not outstanding prospects of strong results – and a platform from which to win a great apprenticeship, go to College/Sixth Form and later university or a higher apprenticeship.
This is a big change from 2010. Why?
Because then, the results from grammar schools and comprehensives were like chalk and cheese. Today, they’re all cheese: and employers told me how impressed they are by today’s pupils all the time and especially the Opportunities Fair I organised at Gloucester Academy (with Holmleigh Park) in late 2022.
In fact last year, Holmleigh Park was the 10th and Gloucester Academy the 11th most improved schools in the country.
Addressing pupils at Holmleigh Park – but most of the time it’s a Q + A in small groups!
Meeting prefects and the Head Teacher at St Peter’s
Meanwhile we have seen strong improvement in Ofsted ratings across Gloucester’s schools: Willow Primary Academy has become the latest in a long line of our city’s schools and academies to be rated ‘Good’ by Ofsted, including Holmleigh Park, Beech Green, Dinglewell Infant, Elmbridge Primary, Field Court CofE Infant Academy, Hempsted CofE Primary, Hillview Primary, Linden Primary, Robinswood Primary Academy, St Peter's Catholic Primary, Tredworth Infant and Nursery Academy, Tredworth Junior and Barnwood Primary School last year: St Peter’s, Ribston Hall, Henley Bank and Kingsway Primary School in 2022 and Denmark Road and Sir Thomas Rich’s in 2021. We also had Abbeymead Primary rated ‘outstanding’ following a visit from Ofsted in December 2023 – a real achievement.
Widden Primary had issues after exploring a merger with The Crypt, but is now happily part of Greenshaw MAT, which has also merged with five schools of the Phoenix Leaning Alliance (Grange, Hunts Grove, Moat, Robinswood and Waterwells Primary Academies). Not everything will be perfect immediately, but I believe all will benefit.
Likewise, last year saw six of our secondary schools outperform the national average progress for children between key stages 2 and 4 (years 7 to 11): this includes 100% of students achieving 9-4 passes in both English and Maths at The Crypt school and Denmark Rd High, with a 98% achievement at Sir Thomas Rich’s school.
Nor are these achievements unique to Gloucester because across the country what has happened is a quiet revolution in English and Maths, as this chart shows.
Big rise in our international PISA rankings from 2010 to 2024.
We are now the highest ranked country in the West for reading – the result of a focus on reading by phonics – from 25th to 11th, science has gone from 16th to 13th and each has further to go.
What about special educational needs (SEN)?
The increase in demand for special educational needs (SEN) support has multiplied at an extraordinary rate, nationally and locally: without any convincing explanation.
As a result we have children awaiting SEN school placement and many others waiting too long for their forms to be processed.
Along with other MPs, we encouraged the Gloucestershire County Council (GCC) to take action: they have now hired 26 new casework staff at considerable cost to help resolve this problem. It will take time, but the backlog is gradually reducing.
The GCC has also agreed to use land long ago ascribed for education at Wheatridge in Abbeydale for a £16.5 million investment into a new SEN school.
Run by Reach South Academy Trust, who already run a specialist school in Dursley (Peak Academy), the new school will support both primary and secondary school children with moderate and additional learning difficulties (MALD).
I welcome the investment and commitment to providing greater educational access to SEN students and provision of a new specialist facility right here in Gloucester. It’s a far cry from the county council election of 2005, when some campaigned to abolish both grammar and SEN schools.
Site of the soon to be new SEN school at Wheatridge, always reserved in plans for educational use, offering 200 places for children and young people with SEN
This is all dear to my heart, coming from a family full of teachers. I believe education is the most important start to every life, a ladder of opportunity, and that’s why I’ve visited 37 of our schools in the last year alone, to see how they and their teachers are doing a great job.
Academisation has played a huge part in this and offers better career opportunities, management of costs and an ability to move teachers around into key slots if needed/during maternity leave etc.
So back to where we started. In every General Election so far there has been a rather stale debate about whether to close grammar schools. My focus has always been on levelling up, not down: to encourage improvements at our comprehensive schools – and we now have them.
We are now in a much better place and as Willow School (part of the SAND Academy Trust) has shown, great ratings can be achieved at our SEN schools (look also at Milestone in Longlevens, long-rated outstanding). I will continue to stand up for and visit all our schools, occasionally encouraging them to do things like buying solar panels for their roofs – cheaper hot water and energy, and revenue when sold into the grid (especially during summer months), and otherwise meeting children who are thriving, taught by teachers who I hope soon will be able to get their teaching qualifications from the University of Gloucestershire’s City Campus in King’s Square.
Above all, I’m re-energised by the talent of our young people continuing through our schools. They are our future - and I’m optimistic.
Hearing from a year 9 class on Newent’s favourite period in history.
Do share your experiences of your children’s or grandchildren’s schools by e mailing me at [email protected]
Best regards
