Leicester school becomes first in Midlands to secure ‘exceptional’ Ofsted ratings across the board

A Leicester secondary school has become the first in the Midlands to receive an “exceptional” judgement in every area of Ofsted’s new inspection framework.

Rushey Mead Academy has been rated exceptional for achievement, attendance and behaviour, curriculum and teaching, inclusion, leadership and governance, and personal development and wellbeing. The achievement makes the school only the third secondary school in England to receive the highest judgement across every category under the new system.

Ofsted describes exceptional practice as being of the highest standard nationally and something other schools can learn from. Inspectors praised the culture at Rushey Mead, saying pupils thrive in an inclusive and inspirational environment where they are encouraged to succeed through high expectations. The report also highlighted the quality of education available to pupils regardless of the barriers they may face.

The academy, part of The Mead Educational Trust, is an inner-city mixed comprehensive school. The trust said Rushey Mead is the only school of this type nationally to have achieved the highest judgement in every category under the new framework.

The result follows several years of work by the school to embed inclusion throughout its approach to education. Leaders have focused on ensuring pupils are known individually, feel that they belong and can access an ambitious curriculum alongside pastoral support, trips and other enrichment opportunities. The academy has also established a Designated Specialist Provision for children with communication and interaction needs.

Principal Vicky Barwell said the school was proud that inspectors had recognised the determination and care shown by staff in supporting students. She said Rushey Mead had been working to embed genuine inclusion throughout the school and that the inspection findings came alongside the academy’s best-ever GCSE results.

The achievement comes during a major change to the way Ofsted reports on schools, with the new framework assessing individual areas rather than relying on the previous single overall effectiveness grade. Rushey Mead’s results therefore provide a detailed picture of performance across areas including teaching, achievement, inclusion, behaviour, wellbeing and leadership.

For Rushey Mead, however, one of the most significant aspects of the inspection is the recognition of inclusion alongside academic achievement. The school says its approach has been built around ensuring that barriers faced by individual pupils do not prevent them from participating fully in school life or accessing the same ambitious education as their peers.

The exceptional judgements now place the Leicester academy among a very small number of secondary schools to have reached the highest standard across every area inspected under Ofsted’s new framework, while making it the first in the Midlands to do so.

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