School’s ‘termination notice’ lifted after improvements seen

OFSTED HAVE NOW LIFTED RATING FROM ‘INADEQUATE’ TO ‘REQUIRES IMPROVEMENT’

A TERMINATION notice that was given to a Nottinghamshire school has been lifted.

It comes after Hall Park Academy was given a termination warning notice in October last year.

This could have meant that the Eastwood school, which is part of the Redhill Academy Trust, was transferred to an alternative trust.

The notice outlined that the Department for Education had concerns about the ability of the trust to deliver the needed improvements to the school.

An Ofsted inspection took place at Hall Park Academy in February 2020 which rated the school “inadequate” and highlighted that it had serious weaknesses.

Since then, further Ofsted visits took place to understand what was happening at the school.

In July 2021, Ofsted inspectors found that “leaders and managers are not taking effective action towards the removal of the serious weaknesses designation”.

The DFE found it necessary to issue the termination following the visit.

In the letter, the DFE pointed to the main reasons for termination.

They said: “Although some previous weaknesses appear to have been addressed, leaders have not ensured that other aspects of the provision remain of a high enough quality.

“Inspectors found significant weaknesses in the quality of the provision for pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND).

“Leaders do not focus closely enough on how well pupils with SEND achieve across the curriculum.”

The termination letter outlined that if the DFE did not think the Trust could achieve the improvements, they would consider whether to terminate the funding agreement in order to transfer the academy to an alternative academy trust.

However, in March this year Hall Park Academy received a further Ofsted inspection which resulted in a “requires improvement” rating rather than the previous “inadequate”.

The latest report outlines that since the previous inspection, a new chair of the board of Redhill Academy Trust has been appointed. An acting chair of governors is currently in role and a new trust leader for SEND took up the position in September 2022. The termination notice was lifted on June 21.

Hall Park Academy and Redhill Academy Trust were contacted for comment.