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Ofsted Inspection Report

The leaders of Thomas Clarkson Academy say that the school is on the road to improvement following a disappointing Ofsted judgement.

The leaders of Thomas Clarkson Academy say that the school is on the road to improvement following a disappointing Ofsted judgement.

Despite a sea change in behaviour at the academy in recent years and a raft of new initiatives to ensure that students are well supported and offered a rounded education, the schools inspection body has ruled that the academy is not doing well enough.

Thomas Clarkson Academy Principal Clare Claxton said: “We are disappointed at the Ofsted assessment as staff have worked extremely hard to ensure that our students are given a good education.

“The report follows GCSE exam results in the summer which were not as expected and the inspection has happened as a result of these results.

“We acknowledge that we need to do better and for many months have been putting in place a whole series of measures to target the issues and ensure that this summer’s Year 11 students do well at GCSE. 

“We have a large number of students who are high achievers and now we want to make sure that this is the norm.”

The judgement comes amid a national teacher recruitment problem, which Ofsted acknowledges is more acute in rural areas like Wisbech.

To combat this recruitment issue the Brooke Weston Trust (BWT), which runs the school is working with outside agencies to develop programmes to entice more experienced teachers to the area.

Teachers at the school also now undertake weekly training and have tailored professional development.

To further strengthen teaching standards the BWT has also brought into Thomas Clarkson Academy experienced staff from the Outstanding Brooke Weston Academy in Northamptonshire to ensure that rapid improvements are now made.

The Ofsted report listed a series of strength in the school, which includes the ability of senior leadership team to drive improvement; a calm learning environment; the support of the Brooke Weston Trust and the governing body and the improvements currently being made by students in Year 11.

Chief Executive of the BWT Andrew Campbell said: “At the Trust we are firmly committed to raising standards at Thomas Clarkson Academy. Although it has proved to be a very difficult job, with various factors against us such as recruitment issues, we have put in place various measures to ensure that we can deal with these challenges. 

“The inspection has acknowledged that the partnership of our senior leadership team and the governing body have the ability to raise achievement levels and that is what we will now do.”

A link to the full report is here