Lansdown Park Academy in Bath has earned praise from Ofsted inspectors for its ‘confident leadership’ and ‘overhauled curriculum’ – while confirmation of an imminent move to join a new school trust will help guide further progress.
Lansdown Park, which provides a bespoke education to up to 100 pupils outside of mainstream schooling, has made great progress since being rated ‘inadequate’ by inspectors last year.
One of the school sites, Rush Hill in Bath based at the former Culverhay School site, was scrutinised during a recent monitoring visit from the schools watchdog, carried out to assess progress since that earlier inspection.
Inspectors were impressed by what they saw, heralding the steps taken by school leaders to address past weaknesses and drive widespread improvement.
Ofsted’s report said:
‘Leaders continue to tackle the areas for improvement identified at the previous inspection… they have maintained the momentum for improvement and built on the work already started.’
‘Parents and carers continue to report on the positive impact the school has on their child and them as a family. One commented, ‘I have been very impressed with their knowledge and ability to support my child to succeed. It’s the happiest she has been in years.’
‘Pupils express a wholly positive view of the school and value how staff listen to and support them.’
Inspectors highlighted the ‘carefully designed’ changes to Lansdown Park’s overhauled curriculum as a positive change, with particular praise for new work to promote reading.
Ofsted also acknowledged Lansdown Park’s action to strengthen the personal development offer for pupils, which helps pupils to re-engage with their learning and build their resilience, confidence and self-awareness.
The report added, ‘Leaders have addressed some weaker aspects identified during the previous monitoring visit. These include changes to the daily timetable to support one-to-one intervention, responsive PSHE sessions and ensuring a more successful afternoon learning session.’
‘Staff comment on how these decisions have also made a difference to pupils’ behaviour and their attitudes to learning. Morale remains high. Staff are confident in the leadership of the school as they go through this period of significant change.’
The change will see Lansdown Park Academy’s two sites running as separate schools from 1 August following the dissolution of is parent trust Learn@ MAT.
The Bath site will join the Midsomer Norton Schools Partnership under St Matthias Park Academy, which currently has sites in Fishponds and Brentry. Headteacher for St Matthias Park, Aileen Morrison, will now take over the leadership at Rush Hill
BANES primary age pupils will continue to be supported at the Lansdown Park site in Stockwood.
Current Headteacher Paul Todd, who has led the rollout of improvement plans, said, “We are pleased that Ofsted has recognised the significant progress made at Lansdown Park over the past year, which is testament to the dedication and expertise of our team.
“The recruitment of new staff has had a big impact, while priority work to enhance to our curriculum and students’ personal development has also delivered results. Both sites are now in a strong position to continue the progress within the new trusts.”