Scarborough school Thomas Hinderwell Academy 'has turned a corner' and is improving, after Ofsted report

The David Ross Education Trust - of which Thomas Hinderwell Primary Academy, on Seamer Road, is part - say they are fully committed to turning it into a school "of which everyone can be proud".

Simon Rose, Director of Primary at the trust ,said: “Thomas Hinderwell Primary Academy has been through a lot of change over recent years, but with Dominique Osborne now leading the school as executive principal, the school has turned a real corner and has a much brighter future ahead.

“Mrs Osborne is an extremely experienced senior leader and has a track record of transforming schools – most recently in another school that is part of the David Ross Education Trust family.

“Whilst the Ofsted grade is disappointing, the inspectors make a point of recognising the significant changes that Mrs Osborne has put in place since she arrived in October 2019 – they comment in some detail on the improvements, though they accept that it is still too early to see the full impact of these.

“Since the inspection took place six months ago, a whole range of further improvements have been made, including appointing a new head of school to work alongside Mrs Osborne.

“The academy has also worked hard to improve relationships with parents and carers during lockdown, and reviewed and implemented new plans so that all children access a full curriculum.

“We will continue to build on these improvements when the new school year starts, with a particular focus on attendance and punctuality, further improving our communication with parents, and an ongoing drive to improve teaching and learning.

“Everyone at the academy and at the David Ross Education Trust is fully committed to turning Thomas Hinderwell into a school of which everyone can be proud.

“That journey has begun in earnest and we will do everything in our power to continue making the improvements needed.”

In their report, Ofsted inspectors said the quality of education at the school was not good enough and leaders’ expectations of what some students could achieve was too low.

They also shared concern about the proportion of pupils being excluded - significantly higher than the national average - and the number of children regularly absent from school.

They acknowledged that the school’s leaders have worked hard to tackle weaknesses but said pupils’ published outcomes at the end of key stages one and two “have been too low for too long”.

The report said: “Leaders have been too slow to address some of the areas identified for improvement at the previous inspection.

“The executive principal has been in post since October 2019. She and trust leaders recognise that there is still much that needs to be done to improve the school.”

The inspectors listed eight recommendations for the school to take so that it can improve.

The inspection took place in February but the publication of the report was delayed by Ofsted because of the pandemic.

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