On 25th February Ofsted completed a section 8 inspection of Wilmington Academy. The purpose of a section 8 inspection is to gauge whether a school continues to be ‘good’ as indicated in our previous report from February 2017, or to ascertain whether there is evidence to suggest a school is above or below their original grading.
We are pleased to announce that Her Majesty’s Inspector and team believed there is enough evidence of improved performance to suggest that the school could be judged outstanding if a section 5 inspection were to be conducted. Therefore, Wilmington Academy will receive a section 5 inspection; usually this is within one to two years of the date of the section 8 inspection.
In response to receiving the news, Michael Gore, Principal at Wilmington Academy said,
“I am delighted that the hard work undertaken by the Wilmington Academy staff and Trust community has been recognised, including the comments regarding our work on cultural diversity, high standards and expectations, the effective systems in place, the reflective and driven nature of leaders/governors, commitment of the pupils and the impact of our the quality of education underpinned by the International Baccalaureate characteristics and programmes”.
The report itself can be found attached to this statement and will be published on Ofsted’s website in the next few days. The report highlights the many elements of effective provision at Wilmington Academy as well as the next steps needed to take the school forward.
One pupil said to the lead inspector:
‘It is a celebration of culture and different backgrounds here, a joyous atmosphere.’
The report demonstrated the amazing journey of improvements made at Wilmington Academy over the past five years and shows how far the school has come from when it joined the Trust in 2010 from being in special measures as Wilmington Enterprise College.
