Eastbourne Technology College, the predecessor school to Eastbourne Academy, serves a disadvantaged area where students face significant barriers to learning. The proportions of students eligible for free school meals, with special educational needs and disabilities and whose home language is not English are higher than in most schools nationally. This is compounded by high student mobility during the school year.

The challenge for the Academy was to bring about improved practice in a school judged to be good in its Ofsted inspection, in which progress was only satisfactory when higher grade GCSE results, taking into account English and mathematics, were considered.

Scope of Service
Appleyards was appointed by the Department for Education to project manage the opening of the Academy in under 10 months and support the sponsors and Academy Principal in bringing about transformational change. The Academy specialises in Science and Digital Technologies.

Impact
During the set up of the Academy our educationalists worked closely with the sponsor and Principal of the Academy to implement a transformational school improvement programme. The programme included the Learning Journey in Year 7 (based on the RSA Opening Minds) which is having a significant impact on student motivation, as are specific literacy and numeracy lessons, and the implementation of a more flexible pathways in the KS4 curriculum to improve basic skills levels. A three ‘Schools’ approach has been adopted to improve pastoral care and personalised learning and this is driving improvement in behaviour and attendance are improving.

Since the Academy opened in September 2010 Appleyards has been appointed to undertake a series of monitoring visits, including a leadership and management review which took place in November and a pre-Ofsted section 5 style inspection which will take place in Spring 2011. The outcomes of these reviews are being used to adjust plans and target further improvement in the months leading up to the full Ofsted inspection.