Not a day goes by without some aspect of the GCSE  grading issue becoming a part of a conversation in each academy. It is borne out of that real sense of injustice and unfairness. But even more insidious is the removal of trust in the examination system. Twitter world has been obsessed with English GCSE, but are there behind all this other changes to grade boundaries?

Having trust in the system and results enables us review progress, challenge our own performance and set up strategies for the new academic year. It enables us to identify those young people who need additonal support or new strategies. Being able to accurately diagnose what is needed is one of the most important elements in school improvement. Intervening in the wrong place is futile. So now where are we?

We have to move on, so today we have analysed our results against expected benchmarks and thresholds. We have been conservative about our expected results,but I can now congratulate Hampton and Twickenham Academy for a  5% rise in headline figures and to Ipswich confirm that they have almost matched last years best results, albeit still indicating a huge amount of work to do to reach the floor target. In particular I can celebrate the improvement in Maths results- at Hampton double where they were 3 years ago. We can see great results in Art, ICT, Business and Health and Social Care in Ipswich, amazing results in Dance at Hampton plus improving Geography scores across the Trust. We can see continued success in Science  at Twickenham..  so let’s move on!

In reviewing next year’s expected progress over the next two weeks, we will hear from programme leaders what they intend to do. We are reaching the point this year where students are on concept throughout the three academies in all years which is of course different from saying it is successfully implemented in all areas by all teachers. I shall look forward to hearing about and seeing that students have clear goals and a clear strategy; that teachers are using their time to work with groups of students or individuals in workshop situations to check they understand what they have learned; that there is lots of learning talk and explanation and students presenting what they know; that assessment is accurate and feedback effective.

Obviously at a college and academy level we will continue to track progress but the power of our approach is that every week every base group tutor is meeting every student and reviewing that progress and their strategies. This is a huge but immensely powerful investment.

So moving on. This week I have been watching the launch of a number of theme courses across the academies and witnessing the enthusiasm from the year 7 and 8 students; it was infectious. We opened the first part of any of our three building projects – the new media and dance facilities at Hampton- amazing. We are planning our new Maths and Science Gifted and Talented project for year 8s – the Fibonacci Programme. The team are finalising the new Language and Literacy approach to go live in October. Staff at Hampton received their new tablets and are enjoying a brand new fast reliable and integrated IT system. The Twickenham building looks fabulous with its new Swedish “red rust” coating. And much more.

We are moving on!