Soaring academy is ready to fly!

Oldham Academy North principal Martin Knowles

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OLDHAM Academy North is celebrating after inspectors praised a "sweeping change" at the Royton secondary.

The school, which is sponsored by E-ACT, was told in May 2014 that it required "improvement" following a visit by Ofsted.

But it has now been given a "good" rating after its latest inspection last month - and has been told that it is "ready to fly".

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Principal Martin Knowles said: "I am absolutely delighted to finally have been given the judgment which we, as a team, have all worked so hard towards achieving.

"It is a ground-breaking success for the academy and I am extremely proud and grateful to all staff, students, parents, carers, E-ACT and the local community for their continued hard work and support. Our journey to outstanding begins now and we are ready for the next challenge." Mr Knowles was appointed in 2014 and the Ofsted report praised his "dynamic leadership" for bringing a sweeping change across the school.

"He has sharpened systems and built a strong team. A firm platform for future success has been laid," said the inspectors.

They added: "Pupils are progressing more rapidly because teaching has improved across the school and senior leaders have successfully addressed the long-standing staffing problems that previously existed within the school.

"The quality of teaching and learning across the school is improving: the school is ready to fly."

The careful use of extra funding to support disadvantaged pupils was praised, along with the school's Futures Programme to improve pupils' employment skills and opportunities.

The teaching of visual and creative arts was exceptional, careers advice excellent, pupils' behaviour good, attendance above average and exclusions had been reduced markedly.

Almost all pupils are from ethnic minority backgrounds and Ofsted said: "The school's work to promote pupil's personal development and welfare is outstanding.

"The spiritual, moral, social and cultural education of pupils is rich and varied across the school.

"There is an impressive range of opportunities to promote British values and diversity is an impressive feature of the school."

But inspectors said there was not a strong culture of reading, some teachers did not plan work that captured pupils' interest, a few teachers did not have high enough expectations of pupils and not enough pupils could work on their own.