Raising the bar

Having an HMI inspection in the last week of the summer term is not an event many Head Teacher’s would embrace! In fact there are many who would argue an inspection at the end of the school year when staff and students are shattered, the weather is hot and trips and rewards are in full swing is simply unfair. However, for myself and the staff at Ernesford, we welcomed our latest inspection as we were confident that the sustained progress we had been making over the course of the year would be recognised. Indeed, the feedback that we received left us able to go into our summer holidays full of belief in what we have been striving towards, that it had been recognised that we ‘have developed a positive and aspirational culture across the school’ and full of the energy and enthusiasm needed to keep on raising our expectations of what we can achieve for our young people upon our return in September.

And so it has begun again. A new year, a new opportunity to raise the bar of expectation once more not only for our students but for our committed staff. We welcomed a magnificent cohort of Year 7 ‘Elite’ students last week. The largest Year 7 cohort the school has had in many years. The community is hearing good things about Ernesford Grange Community Academy, parents want to send their children to our school in the knowledge that we are providing a good quality education, challenging their child to achieve the very best by expecting excellence from every member of staff and student who walks through our doors. The atmosphere around our school is purposeful and as HMI reported in their July inspection ‘there is a clear focus on learning’ canadianviagras.net.

It is an absolute privilege for me to walk into classrooms and feel the love of learning being developed, to see students and staff enjoying their lessons, to observe children actively demonstrating their growing resilience and teachers now courageous enough to step back and allow the struggle time that learners require to gain confidence and independence without fearing the disengagement that may have historically occurred. This is a new era, one of excellence, one of Ernesford Excellence and I could not be more proud of our students and staff and how far they have progressed.