Chantry Academy in Ipswich is delighted to have been mentioned in a speech the Education Secretary gave at a conference today.
 
At the Association of School and College Leaders’ conference in Liverpool,  the Education Secretary, Bridget Phillipson spoke about her visit to Chantry Academy this academic year, saying:
 
“Back in October last year I visited Chantry Academy on the outskirts of Ipswich. I met a young boy there with special educational needs. He told me that he had always felt too special for a normal school, but not special enough for a special school. He worried he just didn’t fit in anywhere. Until he joined Chantry Academy.

And thanks to Chantry’s focus on inclusion, that little boy finally feels that he belongs. And speaking to the head teacher, I could see why. Community is the key – creating a community within the school where everyone is welcome – and connected to the community around them.
Chantry is on an improvement journey. After an inadequate judgement from Ofsted in 2014, they joined Active Learning Trust and changed leadership. There is still more to do, but the school is seeing tangible progress.

Just two years ago one in three students at Chantry were persistently absent.  Now it’s fewer than one in five, back below the national average. And the share of pupils getting good grades in English and maths at GCSE has nearly doubled since 2019.”

Craig D'Cunha, Executive Headteacher at Chantry Academy, said:
 “It is brilliant to see our significant progress acknowledged in this way by the Secretary of State for Education. We were absolutely delighted to welcome Bridget Philipson to Chantry Academy in October to hear about, and see first-hand, the work we have done to improve attendance as well as the inclusive culture we have here and how this supports students as they learn.
 
“We look forward to continuing our progress, together with the support of our whole school community.”