Celebrations as Mildenhall College Academy rated ‘good’ by Ofsted

Staff and students at Mildenhall College Academy are celebrating after being rated ‘good’ across the board by Ofsted.

The school, which converted to an academy in July 2013 and is sponsored by the Academy Transformation Trust, has been praised by the education watchdog for making improvements.

In a report, Ofsted says: “Leaders, including middle teachers and governors have, in a short time period, established a culture of high expectations that has led to improvements in achievement, behaviour and attitudes to learning.

“Strong teaching is leading to accelerated progress as teachers make good use of a range of strategies to match the work to the abilities of individual students.”

“Achievement is good because students across many subjects are making good progress from their individual starting points which are often low.”

It said the sixth form is ‘now good’ with many students ‘achieving well across a range of subjects’.

Among the reasons the academy is not yet outstanding, Ofsted said that boys’ writing ‘needs further improvement’ and ‘in a small number of lessons teaching does not consistently challenge all students and this can hold back their progress’.

Principal Susan Byles said: “We are all delighted with our ‘good’ rating and the highly positive report that reflects the hard work of our staff, pupils, our sponsor and the wider academy community.”

Ian Cleland, chief executive officer of the Academy Transformation Trust, added: “This report recognises the excellent work that the academy team has done to provide pupils with the first class education they deserve.

“Susan and her staff are creating an outstanding academy, with exemplary practices that will establish it as a leading academy in the region.”