SchoolsinDudleyAcademiesTrust arepowering theirway to success

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 herdelightatthe advances the 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 foraschooltogouptwo grades in onego!

“Now,the Trustiscelebrating record results.

“All four of oursecondary academieshavesignificantly improved theirresults andare better than in 2019.

“Despite thenationaltrend for resultstobelower than last year, twoofour academiesare also celebratingresults that aresignificantly higher than thoseawarded in 2021

Gold standard

“All have improvedonthe gold standard GCSEmeasure of Grade 5plusinbothEnglishand Mathematics andinone case by amassive eighteen percent.

“There hasalso been aclear im- provementinthe number of learnersachieving the higher grades, 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,itisabsolutely tremendoustosee learners gaining up to nine Grade9sorequivalent.

Againstthe odds

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

“These results also confirm that theTrust is realisingits missionto developinspirational schoolsthat enable alllearnerstodream bigand achievetheir goalsinlife.

“ThisYear11cohortisthe first groupofyoung people to have spent five yearsinour Trustschools whichisaclear factor in enabling them to do so well

“Thanksgotoour principals, governors, school leaders, teachers, associate staffand members of our centralteamwho live andbreathe theTrust’s values to providethe verybesteducation forour young people.

“Thank youalso to ourparents andcarersfor theirongoing support

Adding aprimary phase to theTrust

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

“This year,Kates HillPrimary, 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 difference to theprospectsour learners have.All four of oursecondaryacademies have significantly raisedtheir GCSEresults, with majorimprovements in attainmentand learnerprogress.

“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 thecomingyears and achieveexcellent examination outcomes.

Howthe Trusthas achieved this progress

“Weare abletoaccomplish these andmanyother advances because we have alarge andexperienced CentralTeamthatsupportseach academy with itsleadership, teaching, building programmes,sports and activities, financialmanagement,staff training,ITand –most importantly– theprogressand 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

“Millionsofpoundshavealready been invested in improvingthe buildings, facilities andcomputing equipment of ouracademies,and much more is beingspent this year

“I am confidentthatour academieswill continue to make great stridesforward overthe coming yearsand that yourchild will find everyopportunitytothrivethere andtodevelop as arounded and confident youngperson.

“Wewantyourchild to ‘Dream Big’ andtoknowthatmanypositive life choicesare within theirreach.

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

Followingthree successive years in which our secondary academies improvedtheir results, we have now achievedour best set of results ever All four of oursecondaryacademies arebetter than in 2019.Despite the national trend forresults to be lower than lastyear,two of our academies have resultsthat aresignificantlyhigher than in 2021.All have improvedonthe gold standardGCSE measureofGrade 5plusinboth Englishand Mathematics and in onecase by amassiveeighteen percent.

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

Jo Higgins, Chief Executive ofDudley AcademiesTrust