Five Islands Academy was visited in October 2023 by a team of four inspectors, carrying out a rigorous, thorough inspection of every academy base and Mundesley Boarding House. The school and boarding provision were both graded as ‘Good’, with ‘Outstanding’ for the Personal Development of students. Please read the full reports below.
As a school, we believe that self-reflecting is an effective way to ensure that we continue to improve and secure the best outcomes for our children. This is why we have joined Challenge Partners: a teacher-led national network of schools focused on improving school performance through peer-to- peer challenge and knowledge sharing. We welcomed Challenge Partners to Five Islands Academy in May 2022 and then again in March 2023 for our annual Quality Assurance Reviews. These have judged our school to be ‘Leading’ in all areas, and have accredited us with ‘Areas of Excellence’ in our Special Educational Needs provision and our pioneering through school Curriculum.
During the reviews, the senior leaders and the visiting review team visited each class, followed by an in-depth discussion on the practice observed. Outcomes from the review are agreed between the school and the review team. A Challenge Partner review is different from other external inspections such as Ofsted and Local Authority reports. Additionally, due to the review’s focus on teaching and learning, it does not consider areas such as safeguarding or governance and its outcomes cannot be directly comparable to an Ofsted inspection.
The Challenge Partners QA Review published in April 2023 evaluated our provision as Leading in All Areas, with an accredited Area of Excellence in Curriculum and a re-accredited Area of Excellence in provision for students with special educational needs (SEND).
