Northamptonshire school picks up three top awards following ‘remarkable few years’

A Daventry school has picked up three top accolades at the recent Northamptonshire Education Awards following a “remarkable few years”.

Daventry Hill School, in Ashby Road, has been on a “long and hard journey of improvement but saw light at the end of the tunnel”.

Recognising their hard work over the past six years, following what the school described as a “poor start” when it first opened in 2016, they won ‘SEND School of the Year’, ‘Headteacher of the Year’ and ‘School of the Year’.

The first award they received on the evening was Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND) School of Year, which they have won twice in two years.

Vicki Bond, head of school, said: “This is a real honour, especially as we are blessed in Northamptonshire with many exceptional SEND schools. There has been a lot of hard work from our staff team over the last few years and this recognises the impact they have all had.”

The awards did not stop there as the judges recognised headteacher Gareth Ivett, who took over the school in 2018, for using his “strong vision” to work with a team of staff to drive forward their curriculum – and he was awarded Headteacher of the Year 2022.

“I’m so proud of the staff at school,” he said. “As a headteacher, I provide the direction, but I am really clear that it’s my amazing team who drive the improvement.

“It is very humbling to receive this award and I’m suffering from imposter syndrome. All decisions made have students at the heart of them and the real reward is seeing outcomes that positively impact their life chances.”

Daventry Hill School, which has students ranging from aged four to 18, also scooped the final award of the night – Overall School of the Year 2022. All schools were considered for this award, no matter if they are a primary, secondary, SEND or in any other category.

Gareth said: “This was an amazing honour and completely unexpected. We recognise our students always deserve better, so we still have some distance to travel.”

The headteacher is “pleased Daventry has a school it can be proud of”.