Mildenhall's Great Heath Academy gets a ‘big tick’ from Ofsted

Great Heath Academy has been rated as Good in all categories in its first Ofsted report since joining the Academy Transformation Trust.

The Mildenhall school became an academy in 2015 and head Steven Vincent is pleased they have maintained standards.

He explained: "As well as converting, the school has been through a significant period of growth, almost doubling in size with 200 to 300 more pupils â a lot of that could have derailed us from our aims.

"It's nice of them to give us that â big tick' and it's down to the hard work of the staff.

"They all work brilliantly, really hard and they're dedicated to the pupils."

The Ofsted agreed, saying: "Teachers use the school's imaginative and engaging curriculum to plan sequences of lessons that help pupils to make good progress.

"During these lessons, teachers and support staff vigilantly check that pupils have understood their work."

The standard of pupils' work is also praised.

There is praise, too, for the leadership team: "Leaders monitor the quality of teaching well. They make clear their expectations to all staff and check that these expectations are being met.

"Leaders are ambitious for the school's disadvantaged pupils and use pupil premium funding well to ensure that they make good progress."

The only criticism is of pupils sometimes not being stretched, though it also says some get more difficult work before they are ready. Mr Vincent said this was partly due to military children joining mid term from the American system.

"This academic year we've had 49 children join other than at the normal point and 26 leave," he said.