DfE visit Spalding and Giles to see the transformation in our schools

We were privileged to welcome Carol Gray, Regional Director for East Midlands and Jonathan Gill, Delivery Officer from the Department for Education (DfE) to see first-hand the transformation South Lincolnshire Academies Trust have made in our schools.

Regional Directors at the DfE act on behalf of the Secretary of State for Education and have a wide portfolio as they work locally across children’s social care, SEND, schools and area-based programmes to improve outcomes for children, families and learners.

They specifically requested to visit both Spalding Academy and Giles Academy as these two schools have made incredible progress in a short space of time since joining the Trust.

During the visit, they experienced the day-to-day running of the school as they visited classrooms, met with students and staff plus observed break and lunchtimes across the different year group yards. They were keen to see for themselves and learn how a successful Multi-Academy Trust should be operated and the positive impact this can have in schools.

Before Spalding Academy and Giles Academy joined South Lincolnshire Academies Trust, they have received damning Ofsted reports where they were both graded ‘Inadequate’.

Spalding Academy was graded ‘Inadequate’ in 2016 before it joined the Trust, and in just 3 years it was graded ‘Good’. The rapid progress since then has continued as Spalding Academy is now the top mixed non-selective secondary school in Lincolnshire, the 3rd top performing school in the whole of Lincolnshire (outperforming grammar schools) and in the top 5% of schools nationally with a Progress 8 score of +0.67 so the school is performing WELL ABOVE national average.

Giles Academy has had a similar journey when it was graded ‘Inadequate’ and placed into ‘special measures’ in 2019. The school then joined the Trust in 2020 and again, in just 3 years it was graded ‘Good’ and also graded Leadership and Management as ‘Outstanding’. This swift progress is emulating the success of Spalding, where Giles Academy is now performing ABOVE national average and is the top performing school in the Boston area that is outperforming all the local grammar schools with a Progress 8 score of +0.08.

Mrs Lucy Conley, Chief Executive Officer of South Lincolnshire Academies Trust said “It was a privilege to show the Regional Director how we have transformed Spalding Academy and Giles Academy since they joined the Trust. We have truly amazing staff and students in all of our schools and they deserve to be in environments where they can enjoy learning, develop into respectable young adults, hold good values, be prepared for the future and achieve academic success. Spalding and Giles have set the blueprint about what can be done, and we have great ambitions for Cowley Academy who recently joined our Trust. We look forward to sharing future successes of our schools with the DfE.”