Leeds East Academy requires improvement but praised for rapid progress

A new report into the Leeds East Academy, in Seacroft, has rated the school as requiring improvement.

Although the school is not rated as being good, inspectors say there has been significant progress made. The report praises staff, teachers and governors for “transforming Leeds East into a “cohesive and effective school”.

In 2013 the school was rated as being inadequate by Ofsted and put in the serious weaknesses category.

Following this Leeds West Academy’s principal Annette Hall was made executive principal of both schools. The two schools were run by the same academy sponsor E-ACT and Leeds West is rated as being good by Ofsted. She said the new report showed Leeds East had made remarkable progress. “It is very unusual for a school to come out of category in just 18 months and the fact that Ofsted have said that the school does not require monitoring is a sign of the confidence they have in what we are doing,” she said.

In February 2014 E-ACT, a national academy chain, pulled out of Leeds East and West amid concerns about the size of its overall operation. The decision left it unclear who would be responsible for running Leeds East and Leeds West Academies. However the newly formed White Rose Academies Trust, backed by Leeds City College, then took on both schools.

In its new report Ofsted says Leeds East has made considerable progress. It says behaviour is no longer a significant barrier and praises the work of the school’s executive principal, principal, managers, teachers and governors.

However it says the school is not yet good because pupils are not yet making enough progress – particularly in maths. The report also says teachers’ expectations of what students can achieve are not always high enough.