College praisedas good schoolby inspectors

It is all part of a transformational year for the College during which it converted to Academy status, becoming part of the Rye Academy Trust along with its sister school, the Rye Studio School for the Creative Industries, which opens this September.

The College has also enjoyed some of the best exam results in its history in recent years.

It is a remarkable achievement for a school that was said to be failing and placed on special measures less than a decade ago.

The Ofsted inspection team judged the College to be good in all of the categories scrutinised, which include students’ achievement, the behaviour and safety of students, the quality of teaching and leadership and management.

Rye Academy Trust Executive Principal, Ann Cockerham said: “We are delighted by the inspection report, which gives credit to the hard work of staff, governors and students.

“This is a much tougher inspection process than we have seen in the past and we are pleased that the inspectors recognised so many of our College’s strengths. We have a good foundation on which to build and we are all committed to ensuring that Rye College moves on to become outstanding in all that it does.”

Ofsted data indicates that the proportion of students who will gain five or more GCSEs at grades A* to C including English and mathematics is on track to be much higher than average this year.

The report said: “The headteacher, senior and middle leaders all have a very clear vision for the academy and have put in place robust improvement planning to help it move from being good to outstanding.

“The headteacher’s ambition, supported by the governors and the Academy Trust, is to build a Learning Village that will be at the heart of the local community.”