When I came into post and started issuing these regular briefings, I made a personal vow to try and keep them as short and succinct as possible—no longer than a page.

This briefing is the one that’s presented the hardest challenge by far with all the news I have to share...

Firstly, a big THANK YOU and WELL DONE to all the children, staff and governors at Abbey, Hilltop & Kelford schools for the warm welcome they gave Ofsted inspectors when the academies were individually inspected over the last 2 months.

Whilst the outcomes for Abbey and Hilltop are still embargoed, I am really proud to share that Kelford school were judged to remain a “Good” school, with many strengths identified by the inspection team and clear progress evident since the last inspection in 2014. In talking to the Kelford workforce this week, I was really clear that before the inspection we believed we had excellent practice in the school. Because of the child-focused work of the staff and school leaders on a daily basis I felt really comfortable and confident that Ofsted would see us as we are - a genuinely Good school that cares for all our children. That’s down to the hard work of Jacky and her team every single day. When we work so hard and care so much for our children and families, we can have justifiable belief that Ofsted will see us for what we are—and like what they see!

I had a wonderful couple of hours on 29th March, interviewing our fantastic young people at Abbey for new roles in the Abbey news room. Pupils had been made redundant from Abbey FM a few weeks earlier (yes, I did just type those words!), and they showed not just resilience but unadulterated enthusiasm for the new roles advertised at Abbey News! The creative thinking of this approach by the Abbey staff to build resilience in or children is only exceeded by our pupils capacity to rise to the challenge! Just brilliant.

Finally, this year one of our Kelford students, Harry Turner, has been volunteering at Sheffield Sharks as part of his work related learning. He has been working on a weekly basis, sometimes doing 11 hours shifts. He absolutely loves it and has been extremely popular with everyone involved. Two weeks ago I heard the amazing news that he was nominated for an award by the staff at Sheffield Sharks: and he won!

Sarah Henderson and Lisa (AKA Linda) Atkin have been supporting Harry (who attends The View) who is scheduled to be receiving his award in London on May 19th. Well done Harry—we’re all super proud of you!

View PDF Version