School makes improvements after funding warning

The Parker E-ACT Academy in Daventry requires "significant improvement"

A secondary school has said it has made improvements after it was sent a government letter warning it could lose its funding - following a critical Ofsted report.

The Department of Education (DofE), wrote to The Parker E-ACT Academy, Daventry, Northamptonshire, in June, stating that it had not acted quickly enough to address its "weaknesses".

It said that levels of pupil absence were too high and there were several issues with staff who did not address gaps in learning.

The school said the DofE had told the academy it was "satisfied" it "was able to "deliver higher standards at the school rapidly and sustainably".

The school said it had "acted quickly and decisively to address the issues raised in the January report" - with a new head team

The action comes after an Ofsted report in May rated the quality of education, behaviour and attitudes and leadership and management as inadequate.

The DofE letter, written by Carol Gray, regional director, said: "The school, including the trust, has not taken effective action, or acted quickly enough to address the school's weaknesses."

It "requires significant improvement", the letter added.

It said school work had declined and it should "ensure swift action is taken to address the priority issues that have been identified".

This includes ensuring that staff have the right knowledge, expertise and ongoing support to bring about the required improvements.

Pupil absence was too high and children, including those with special educational needs (SEND) were "regularly absent from school, which means they miss out on learning".

Maughan Johnson was appointed as the new headteacher at the school on 22 April

The letter said pupils were not learning as well as they should and the school had to "ensure that staff check pupils' understanding so that misconceptions and gaps in learning can be addressed".

"In too many subjects, staff do not make appropriate adaptations for pupils with SEND to access the curriculum," it said.

Ms Gray said: "I need to be satisfied that the trust has capacity to deliver rapid and sustainable improvement at the academy.

"If I am not satisfied, I will consider whether to terminate the funding agreement in order to transfer the academy to an alternative academy trust."

'Journey of transformation'

An E-ACT Academy spokesperson said the DofE had told the school it had "confidence in the trust to deliver higher standards at the school rapidly and sustainably".

It said a new head teacher, Maughan Johnson, was put in place in April, as well as a new deputy head teacher and education director.

Under the team, "we have acted quickly and decisively to address the issues raised in the January report", they said.

"We are confident that this administrative process will end shortly as we continue to make the necessary improvements to our school.

"The Parker is already a very different place to the one inspected over half a year ago and we are fully committed to finishing this journey of transformation."

They added that since the letter had been sent a month ago, it had "made significant strides, and the Department for Education has now confirmed that they have no plans for termination."