Principal of Brandon free school ‘committed’ to improvements

The principal of a Brandon free school has expressed delight after watchdogs concluded it is ‘making progress’ towards the removal of special measures.

IES Breckland, the first school of its kind in the UK, was brought under closer supervision by Ofsted following an inspection in January 2014.

During its last monitoring inspection in March, Her Majesty’s Inspector Chistopher Moodie found the school was making ‘reasonable progress towards the removal of special measures’.

Alison Tilbrook, principal, said: “We are very pleased that Her Majesty’s Inspector has recognised the massive improvements we have made across the board.

“I could not be more proud of this school. I’m incredibly pleased it is moving in the right direction, and so quickly.

“It is all about teamwork, and the pupils, staff, the trust and governors have worked together as one.

“We are committed to improving the quality of teaching and learning. We are staffed with fully qualified teachers and we really feel we are going in absolutely the right direction. All is certainly sunny in Brandon!”

The report found that pupil achievement was improving, in some areas ‘rapidly’, and students’ work standards were increasing because ‘more teachers have raised their expectations’.

Inspectors reported improvements in some subject areas, with subject and faculty leaders becoming ‘much more involved’ in leadership. However, the report found discrepancies in leadership in different subjects.

Behaviour throughout the school was also reported to have improved, with students ‘adpoting much more positive attitudes to their learning’.