SchoolsinDudleyAcademies Trust arepoweringtheir waytosuccess

Thefoursecondary

academiesthatare members of Dudley Academies Trusthavebeen celebratingtheir best ever GCSE results.

This comesatthe endofa year during whichone of them was judged‘Good’byOfsted andall four have improvedthe progress made by theirlearners.

Four yearsofprogress andsuccess

Jo Higgins, ChiefExecutive of Dudley AcademiesTrust,expressed herdelight at theadvancesthe Trusthas made.“Iamextremely proudofthe immense progress our secondaryacademies have made in thefouryears that we have been operational.

“The news that Ofsted inspectors hadclassed TheLinkAcademyas a‘Good’schoolwas particularly pleasing,asitisexceptionally rare fora school to go up twogradesin onego!

“Now,the Trustiscelebrating record results.

“All four of oursecondaryacademieshavesignificantly improved theirresults andare better thanin 2019.

“Despite thenationaltrend for resultstobelowerthanlastyear, twoofour academiesare also celebrating resultsthatare significantly higher than thoseawarded in 2021

Gold standard

“All have improvedonthe gold standard GCSE measureofGrade 5plusinbothEnglish andMathematics andinone case by amassive eighteenpercent

“There hasalso been aclear im- provementinthe number of learnersachieving thehighergrades, seven to nine.

“Intwo academies, almost twenty percentoflearnersachievedthisin English.

“Thisisanincredibleachievement forour young people andthe staffwho have supported them through twoyears of disruption and uncertainty.

“Inviewofthe unprecedented challenges learners have faced duringthe pandemic, it is absolutely tremendoustosee learners gaining up to nine Grade9sorequivalent.

Againstthe odds

“Asa Trust, we servesomeofthe most economically disadvantaged areasinthe country, whichmakes these resultsparticularlyspecial.

“These resultsalso confirm that theTrust is realisingits missionto develop inspirationalschools that enable alllearnerstodream bigand achievetheir goalsinlife.

“ThisYear11cohortisthe first groupofyoung people to have spent five yearsinour Trustschools whichisa clearfactorinenabling them to do so well

“Thanks go to ourprincipals, governors, school leaders, teachers, associate staff andmembersofour centralteamwho live andbreathe theTrust’s values to providethe very best educationfor ouryoung people

“Thank youalso to ourparents andcarersfor theirongoing support

Adding aprimary phase to theTrust

“Atthe beginningof2021, we welcomedBlowers GreenPrimary,judged‘Outstanding’ by Ofsted twiceina row, as the firstprimary school to join theTrust.

“This year,Kates Hill Primary, aconsistently‘Good’school, also joined us.Webelieve that having a large, thriving andmutuallysupportivegroup of primaryschools within theTrust will be vitalto achievingour aimoftransforming theprospectsofyoung people in Dudley

“Inthe last five years, we have made abig differencetothe prospectsour learners have.All four of oursecondaryacademies have significantly raisedtheir GCSEresults, with majorimprovements in attainment andlearner progress

“Bothprimary schoolshave achieved SATS resultsatorabove thenationalbenchmark forexpected progress andBlowers Greenis significantly above forthe ‘greater depth’ measure.

“Weare confidentthatour learn- ersinall phases will continue to flourish in thecomingyearsand achieveexcellent examinationoutcomes.

Howthe Trusthas achieved this progress

“Weare abletoaccomplish these andmanyother advances because we have alarge andexperienced CentralTeamthatsupportseach academywithits leadership,teaching, building programmes,sports andactivities, financialmanagement,staff training, IT and–most importantly–the progress and wellbeingofyourchildren

“Wehaverecruited numerous, excellentstaff to ouracademies and made some outstandingappointmentstotheir leadership teams

“Wehaveintroduced aproven system of rewardsand behaviour management that haschanged the cultureofour classrooms, accompanied by araftofnew approaches to teaching

“Millionsofpounds have already been invested in improvingthe buildings, facilities andcomputing equipment of ouracademies, and much moreisbeing spentthisyear.

“I am confidentthatour academieswillcontinuetomakegreat stridesforward over thecoming yearsand that yourchild will find everyopportunity to thrive there andtodevelop as arounded and confidentyoung person.

“Wewantyourchild to ‘Dream Big’ andtoknowthatmanypositive life choices arewithintheir reach.

“Working with you,wewill do everything in ourpower to make that areality.”

Followingthree successiveyears in which our secondary academies improvedtheir results, we have now achievedour best set of results ever Allfour of oursecondaryacademies arebetter than in 2019.Despite the national trendfor resultstobelower than lastyear,two of our academies have resultsthat aresignificantlyhigher than in 2021.All have improved on the gold standardGCSE measureofGrade 5plusinboth English andMathematics and in onecase by amassiveeighteen percent.

We can nowsay to parents that iftheir children come to one of ouracademies, theywill have everyopportunity to excel. If schools league tables had been publishedoverthe last three years,I am surethat our academies wouldhave movedupsignificantly.”

Jo Higgins, Chief Executive of DudleyAcademiesTrust