Good report for ‘highly ambitious’ Daventry school

Inspectors showered praise on Falconer’s Hill Academy, Daventry, part of the David Ross Education Trust (DRET), for its wide programme of visits, experiences and life skills lessons for children.

Pupils can learn yoga, take part in orchestra and athletics, and go on cultural visits to places including the Royal Opera House and Hampton Court in London.

The school also helps pupils to “develop life skills, such as changing their own bedsheets”, said inspectors in the report.

At the same time, children are offered high-level lessons. Inspectors said the pupils could “explain the importance of the Mayan number system” and “talk about the relationship between Julius Caesar and the Roman Senate”.

Meanwhile pupils in Year 4 could already “describe the difference between pitch and volume after listening to different instruments”.

Pupils with special educational needs and disabilities access this full curriculum, added inspectors, because of “sensitive adaptations” that help them.

The school, which is one of 34 schools with the David Ross Education Trust, was judged ‘Good’ at its previous inspection in 2017 and has secured this judgement once again, despite the disruption of the pandemic since then.

Inspectors, who visited in November last year but have just released their findings, were also impressed with the school’s strong focus on reading.

Pupils said they “love to read” and pupils who join the school “thrive because teachers quickly identify their next steps in reading”.

Meanwhile the report said that staff “work extremely well together and there is a real sense of team spirit”. “Morale is high” among the teachers, inspectors added.

The school’s focus on equality and diversity was also praised by inspectors, who described Falconer’s Hill Academy as a “welcoming and inclusive school”.

Principal Angela Rock said: “It’s just brilliant to have the hard work of our teachers and our children recognised in this way. We put a lot of thought and effort into creating a smashing curriculum for our pupils, which stretches them academically and also gives them really interesting experiences and helps them have practical life skills.

“The whole goal is for our children to leave us with everything they need to make a success of their next steps at secondary school.”