A DARLINGTON school has been praised by inspectors after becoming one of the first schools in the town to be evaluated under the Government’s new inspection framework.
Ofsted inspectors judged Hummersknott Academy to have Strong Standards in two areas: Attendance and Behaviour, and Personal Development and Wellbeing.
It was found to meet Expected Standards for Achievement, Curriculum and Teaching, Inclusion, and Leadership and Governance.
Headteacher Grant Sowerby joined the school in January 2025. He said: “The students really did us proud.
“I’m very pleased that the inspectors concluded that Hummersknott is a ‘friendly, happy place’. It really sums up why we come to work.
The inspection report celebrates students’ academic achievement, stating: “By the end of key stage 4, pupils achieve very well, particularly in English and Mathematics GCSEs.”
“This is great recognition of the hard work of everyone within the school community,” said Mr Sowerby.
He also welcomed the report’s recognition of the contribution made by student leaders, which read: “There are lots of leadership opportunities for pupils, and many take advantage of these. Leadership roles include college captains, sports leaders, head students and membership of the student council.”
The school’s culture drew further praise from inspectors, who wrote: “Pupils show self-discipline and there is a clear culture of respect and tolerance across the school. Discrimination and bullying are not tolerated.”
Key to the school’s improvement has been an ongoing recruitment and training drive, to both attract new teachers and empower current staff.
“We want the best possible people in this school, and we’ve worked hard to put them in place,” Mr Sowerby said. “We’re a highly academic school – more than 99 per cent of our leavers go on to further education.
“We believe that having the right setting, the right support, and the best possible teaching at this age is vital to help our students go on to lead happy, fulfilled lives.”
The school joined the Advance Learning Partnership in 2023, and the report recognised the role the education trust and senior leaders play, reading: “Leaders have raised expectations and driven significant improvements across the school in recent years. This has been underpinned by the support of the trust.
“Leaders are role models of professionalism. They have established a collective sense of moral purpose across all stakeholders in striving to achieve their high ambitions for all pupils.”
The school was previously rated as Good in 2021, but like most teachers, this was Mr Sowerby’s first experience of the new inspection framework.
Under the new system, schools are assessed across multiple areas, rather than receiving a single overall grade.
“The new approach represents a fresh challenge, but having experienced it now I genuinely think it was the right outcome for schools,” he said.
“The old and new frameworks aren’t directly comparable, I think it would be generally accepted that two Strong ratings and four Expected represent continued improvement.
“We know where the strengths of this school lie, and it was great to see those recognised, but we know where we still have some work to do.
“We will be embedding certain things that we’ve established which just need a bit more time to really bear fruit, continuing to adapt and improve to make sure our students thrive.”