A primary school in Mansfield for children with special educational needs which was previously placed in special measures has now been rated as 'good' by Ofsted. It was previously known as Redgate School before being taken over by Diverse Academies Trust in 2017 as part of the measures introduced, becoming Redgate Primary Academy in Somersall Street.
The school was inspected on March 29 and 30, with the report into Ofsted's findings recently published. It is now rated as 'good' in every area inspected, compared to when the school had its last full inspection in February 2015.
In that report, inspectors rated 'leadership and management' and 'behaviour and safety of pupils' as 'inadequate', resulting in an overall 'inadequate' rating despite higher scores in other areas. In its findings, the report stated: "The governing body is not fulfilling its statutory duty to ensure that the school's arrangements for keeping pupils safe meet requirements.
"Governors do not understand the child protection processes that need to be in place. The information about the progress and achievement of groups of pupils is not analysed and so leaders, including governors, do not have an accurate view of teaching or of achievement."
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The school then had monitoring visits from Ofsted before being taken over by Diverse Academies Trust in 2017. But that's since been turned around, with 'quality of education', 'behaviour and attitudes', 'personal development', 'leadership and management' and 'early years provision' all rated 'good'.
The latest report states: "This school is friendly and inclusive. Leaders' vision for pupils to experience 'caring, sharing and learning together' is at the heart of the curriculum. Pupils receive personalised, good-quality care and education."
Parents and carers spoke highly of Redgate Primary Academy, with one parent commenting: "I can't thank the school enough for what they do on a daily basis for my child."
Gareth Letton, executive principal of Redgate Primary Academy, said: "We are tremendously proud of what has been achieved at Redgate Primary Academy. The leadership team and staff have worked tirelessly together to enhance the quality of education for our children, and this judgement is testament to that.
"Redgate is a wonderful place to be and we are absolutely delighted by the outcome. This is also a great example of how we work as part of a group of schools - the academy team has not only built on their local knowledge, skills and experience, but also drawn from the wider multi-academy trust.
"And these benefits are two-way, as the academy's insights and understanding of working with children with special educational needs are also invaluable to colleagues working across our mainstream settings."
Dave Cotton, CEO of Diverse Academies Trust, which has taken over the school, said: "As a trust, we offer our academies the opportunity to be part of a larger, high-performing team where colleagues can unlock support from a number of sources to drive school improvement at pace. We believe it's a significant strength for us and is part of the turnaround success story for Redgate.
"I am incredibly grateful to the whole team for their continued commitment to making this unique learning environment one that our academy community can rightly be proud of."
