Top marks for JCB Academy
Ofsted praises outstanding features of the school including progress in maths and engineering
THE JCB Academy – Britain’s only school dedicated to developing engineers and business leaders of the future – has passed its first full Ofsted inspection with flying colours.
Inspectors concluded that the achievement of pupils, the quality of teaching, the behaviour and safety of pupils and the leadership and management were all ‘good’.
In addition, the Ofsted team highlighted ‘outstanding’ features, including progress in mathematics, engineering and vocational courses and the Rocester-based Academy’s dedication to keeping students safe and secure.
JCB Academy principal Jim Wade said: ‘We are delighted that the inspection team saw so much that was good or outstanding at The JCB Academy during the recent inspection. It is particularly pleasing that the team recognized that progress in mathematics, engineering and vocational courses is outstanding and that ‘the academy’s work to keep students safe and secure is outstanding’ and ‘students state they feel exceptionally safe in the academy’’.
JCB chairman Lord Bamford said: ‘I’m delighted that the JCB Academy has been rated so highly by Ofsted in its first report. The young people attending The JCB Academy are not only receiving a fantastic education, they are also leaving with the exact skills and attitudes that employers in the engineering sector are looking for.’
The Ofsted report praises The JCB Academy’s ‘high reputation in the engineering and business’ sectors and highlights that many students enter apprenticeships, higher education courses and careers which reflect the characteristics of the University Technical College.
Since opening in 2010, The JCB Academy has been developing a unique approach to the delivery of learning. This has been praised by such figures as John Cridland, director-general of the CBI, who commented: ‘An inspirational building filled with inspirational young people’, and Philip Greenish, chief executive of the Royal Academy of Engineering, who said: ‘The JCB Academy is astoundingly good, recruiting non-selectively from a wide area. Terms are longer, working days are longer, but its is heavily oversubscribed and amazingly well equipped. The students are highly motivated and their results are astonishingly good.’
