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BBC News
2 days ago
- General
- BBC News
Harbour Learning Trust warning over Lincoln's St Giles Academy
An academy trust could lose its contract to run a Lincoln primary school after inspectors criticised it for poor educational Department for Education said Harbour Learning Trust needed to deliver "rapid and sustainable improvement" at the St Giles Academy or the management would be Ofsted inspection in April said the curriculum at the school was "poorly-designed" and pupils did not acquire the knowledge and skills they Harbour Learning Trust admitted the school had not been good enough and said work was already under way to improve it. In a critical report released in June, inspectors found numerous issues during their visit to the school, including:• The school's curriculum had little structure in most subjects• Pupils had gaps in their learning and struggled to recall important curriculum content securely• The school's provision for pupils with special educational needs and disabilities was weak• The school was not taking effective steps to improve outcomes for disadvantaged pupils• The school's expectations of pupils' behaviour are too Gray, the regional director for the Department for Education, wrote a letter to the trust and said she expected major improvements before the start of the next academic wrote: "If I am not satisfied that this can be achieved, I will consider whether to terminate the funding agreement in order to transfer the academy to an alternative academy trust."Ms Gray has asked for a response by 11 September. 'Community effort' Richard Briggs, chief executive officer at Harbour Learning Trust, said that changes had already taken place and St Giles "feels a very different place".He said: "We've brought in one of our best headteachers from an outstanding school in the trust."We've strengthened the leadership by bringing in new senior leaders and have brought in an additional three members of teaching staff."Mr Briggs also claimed the changes were bearing fruit with improved pupil scores for school broke up for the summer holidays last week, and Mr Briggs said he was confident staff, pupils and parents would notice a difference when they returned in September. "It's not something we can just do on our own, we have to have the support of our parents, we have to have our children on board."It really will be a community effort," he to highlights from Lincolnshire on BBC Sounds, watch the latest episode of Look North or tell us about a story you think we should be covering here. Download the BBC News app from the App Store for iPhone and iPad or Google Play for Android devices


BBC News
21-07-2025
- General
- BBC News
Daventry school makes improvements after funding warning
A secondary school has said it has made improvements after it was sent a government letter warning it could lose its funding - following a critical Ofsted report. The Department of Education (DofE), wrote to The Parker E-ACT Academy, Daventry, Northamptonshire, in June, stating that it had not acted quickly enough to address its "weaknesses".It said that levels of pupil absence were too high and there were several issues with staff who did not address gaps in school said the DofE had told the academy it was "satisfied" it "was able to "deliver higher standards at the school rapidly and sustainably". The action comes after an Ofsted report in May rated the quality of education, behaviour and attitudes and leadership and management as DofE letter, written by Carol Gray, regional director, said: "The school, including the trust, has not taken effective action, or acted quickly enough to address the school's weaknesses."It "requires significant improvement", the letter added. It said school work had declined and it should "ensure swift action is taken to address the priority issues that have been identified".This includes ensuring that staff have the right knowledge, expertise and ongoing support to bring about the required absence was too high and children, including those with special educational needs (SEND) were "regularly absent from school, which means they miss out on learning". The letter said pupils were not learning as well as they should and the school had to "ensure that staff check pupils' understanding so that misconceptions and gaps in learning can be addressed"."In too many subjects, staff do not make appropriate adaptations for pupils with SEND to access the curriculum," it Gray said: "I need to be satisfied that the trust has capacity to deliver rapid and sustainable improvement at the academy. "If I am not satisfied, I will consider whether to terminate the funding agreement in order to transfer the academy to an alternative academy trust." 'Journey of transformation' An E-ACT Academy spokesperson said the DofE had told the school it had "confidence in the trust to deliver higher standards at the school rapidly and sustainably". It said a new head teacher, Maughan Johnson, was put in place in April, as well as a new deputy head teacher and education the team, "we have acted quickly and decisively to address the issues raised in the January report", they said. "We are confident that this administrative process will end shortly as we continue to make the necessary improvements to our school."The Parker is already a very different place to the one inspected over half a year ago and we are fully committed to finishing this journey of transformation."They added that since the letter had been sent a month ago, it had "made significant strides, and the Department for Education has now confirmed that they have no plans for termination." Follow Northamptonshire news on BBC Sounds, Facebook, Instagram and X.