OFSTED: "Paddington Academy is Outstanding"
11 November 2011
Students and staff at Paddington Academy are celebrating after the academy was judged ‘Outstanding’ by Ofsted – the highest grade possible.
Inspectors spent two days at the academy in October visiting a wide range of lessons and speaking to students and staff. In their report, inspectors praised every aspect of academy life and described a number of areas as exemplary.
As well as praising the year-on-year improvement in GCSE and A level results, inspectors commended the academy for its very high attendance and punctuality rates, the high standard of behaviour, the extensive range of extracurricular opportunities and the exceptional level of care, guidance and support.
Above all, the inspectors were impressed by the personalised attention the academy gives to each individual student. The curriculum, which they described as ‘excellent’ was said to be tailored to meet the needs of each student and inspectors found strong evidence to show that teachers know the needs of their students exceptionally well. Inspectors commended the academy for giving every single student the chance to achieve everything they are capable of – whatever their starting point when they join the academy. They described this promotion of equality of opportunity as ‘exemplary’.
Mrs Oli Tomlinson, Principal of Paddington Academy, whose leadership was described as ’inspirational’, said:
“The entire Paddington Academy community is absolutely thrilled with the Ofsted judgement. Since we opened, everyone has worked incredibly hard to raise standards and provide local children with the very best education. This report is testament to the hard work and dedication of an extremely talented and committed staff as well as the vital support of our parents, governors and the local community.
“I am particularly pleased that inspectors noticed how polite, friendly and well-behaved our students are and so this report is a credit to them just as much as it is to the staff and our sponsor the United Learning Trust.
“The inspectors rightly found that we encourage all our students to have high aspirations for their future and as an academy community we have similarly high expectations of what the academy itself can achieve. This report shows that we still have huge potential and so being judged Outstanding is just the beginning for us. We already have our sights set on even greater goals and we will apply the same ethos of hard work and determination so that we can keep getting better and better.”
Kathy August, Acting Chief Executive of the United Learning Trust, which sponsors Paddington Academy, said:
“This is fantastic news for Paddington Academy and I congratulate Oli Tomlinson and all the hard-working and committed staff on this superb judgement. Receiving an Outstanding judgement is no easy feat and, given the very low starting point of the academy five years ago, the staff and students fully deserve this accolade.
“Anyone walking into Paddington Academy is struck by the welcoming and special atmosphere that exists there. Staff work incredibly hard to bring out the best in every single student and in return, the students work hard, treat each other with courtesy and respect and display a genuine love for their school.”
