Outwood Academy Carlton achieves Flagship status

Outwood Academy Carlton has achieved Flagship status from Inclusion Quality Mark. Here is an extract from the IQM report.

Outwood Academy Carlton is a secondary school with academy status located in Carlton, near Barnsley.  The school serves the communities of Carlton, Athersley and Royston and has a mixed intake of boys and girls aged 11–16 with a comprehensive admissions policy.  Currently there is a Pupil Admission Number (PAN) of 1200 pupils.

Carlton Community College was established in September 2009 through the merger of Edward Sheerien and Royston High schools.  Initially operating from the site of Edward Sheerien School, it was a community school administered by Barnsley Metropolitan Borough Council.  In 2011, the school moved into a newly constructed site, built as part of the Building Schools for the Future programme and funded through the Private Finance Initiative. In February 2016, the school converted to academy status under the sponsorship of Outwood Grange Academies Trust and was renamed Outwood Academy Carlton. 

The IQM assessment visit started with a learning walk through the academy.  Our Assessor was privileged to visit several lessons and see the impact that the newly launched Oracy strategy is starting to have with learners.  The way that students have embraced the strategy, which includes key subject vocabulary and sentence starters, is incredible to see and hear.  The way that students respectfully speak and interact with each other is preparing them very well for life, particularly the Year 7 students that have known nothing but this way of communication and interaction from the start of their secondary schooling. 

The academy feels like a spacious, well designed modern college where a lot of time and thought has been spent on ensuring the students have the best possible environment to flourish in.  The use of the connecting open space between the art classrooms has been turned into an inspirational gallery exhibiting General Certificate of Secondary Education (GCSE) work from students past and present, as well as celebrating student achievement through a ‘Proud Thursday’ display. 

Pride was a recurring theme throughout the visit, from the impeccable dress code modelled by the students both in and out of lessons through to their eagerness to discuss and demonstrate their understanding of learning developed in lessons that were pacy, challenging and well structured.  

For the full report, visit the IQM website.