Ofsted confirms Ormiston Bushfield Academy’s continued success

  28 January, 2020

Ormiston Bushfield Academy has today had its ongoing success confirmed, with Ofsted once again rating the Peterborough academy as “Good”.

As part of the report, inspectors described how students at the school are happy, enjoy learning and are proud to be part of a school community where pupils and staff actively support one another. Inspectors also recognised this positive culture reflected amongst senior leaders, who have high expectations for every student, regardless of their background.

Ofsted highlighted the strength of teaching and learning at the academy, with leaders placing great importance on what students learn, and the order in which they learn new knowledge. Senior leaders, governors and subject leaders at the school are well-supported by OAT in this area, and progress has subsequently been very strong in English, in particular, amongst other key subjects. This praise follows the academy celebrating significant increases in attainment in English at GCSE this summer, for example, with the number of students achieving at least a Grade 4 or higher increasing by 5% on the previous year.

The report gave particular praise to Ormiston Bushfield Academy’s sixth form, which is becoming increasingly popular with Year 11 pupils and well-known across the city for being a high-quality post-16 education provider. Inspectors highlighted how leaders support the students well with their learning, with an increasing proportion going on to study at world-leading universities, such as Oxbridge.

Beyond the curriculum, inspectors noted how the school promotes students’ personal development in many different ways, with staff making the most of opportunities to develop students’ cultural understanding of the wider world. This includes wide-ranging extracurricular activities such as arts, chess, sports or debating, as well as alternative roles and responsibilities such as being members of the school council, subject ambassadors and sports captains.

Other key highlights from the report include:

  • The curriculum is well developed to meet the needs of pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities.  
  • Alongside achieving strong outcomes, students also have access to good quality guidance and support to help raise aspirations and plan future destinations.
  • The school is very welcoming, with Ofsted recognising that those who are new to the school settle in very quickly. As part of this, Bushfield’s Year 7 transition provision demonstrates that leaders have ambitious expectations for all pupils, giving them a very good start to their education in the school.
  • The school aims to make pupils responsible and caring members of society.

The glowing Ofsted report follows another successful year for the academy, which celebrated excellent results across both GCSE and A-levels in the summer. The academy, alongside OAT, is committed to ensuring that every young person has the ability to achieve great things, coupled with a desire to provide the highest standard in teaching and learning.

Dennis Kirwan, Principal of Ormiston Bushfield Academy, said:

“We are truly delighted that Ofsted has once again recognised the ongoing, brilliant work here at Ormiston Bushfield Academy, and in particular our determination to ensure that all students are treated equally and are given the best possible opportunities to succeed.

“We are incredibly proud of the report which demonstrates how happy, welcoming and high-achieving our school is. This culture that we all foster, and today’s report, is testament to all our staff, students and the wider school community who work so hard to make Ormiston Bushfield Academy the excellent education provider that it is today.”

Nick Hudson, Chief Executive Officer of Ormiston Academies Trust, said:

“We’re very pleased to see that Ormiston Bushfield Academy’s sustained excellence has been recognised by Ofsted in today’s report. Ormiston Bushfield has long been the school of choice in the local area, and it is excellent to see it continue to go from strength to strength. We’re looking forward to continuing to support the academy as it goes on to build on today’s great achievement.”


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