St Mary & Johns Primary Academy

The School Improvement Journey

Author: Mrs Joanne Hanslip; Executive Head

Background: In September 2008, as I joined the school as a new Head-teacher, it became apparent that the school faced significant challenges in order to move forwards from the ‘satisfactory’ point it was at. There were many changes to staffing and so we began the journey towards becoming a ‘Good school with Outstanding Behaviour and Safety’ ( OFSTED January 2015).

Initial Stages of the Journey: Raising Aspirations and Expectations. The initial priority was to embed in all members of the school community a desire to improve and to raise expectations of what children could and should be able to achieve despite the deprived community and social challenges they faced.