Grange school takes on academy status after being taken out of special measures

The Grange school, which is in Harlescott, Shrewsbury, has become part of Shropshire’s first multi-trust academy after the Department for Education recently gave the green light for the move.

Both the Grange and neighbouring Sundorne School now operate under the umbrella of Shrewsbury Academies Trust, formerly known as North Shrewsbury Federation.

As a result, staff and parents of pupils are delighted that the Grange has been taken out of special measures earlier than anticipated.

Geoff Pettengell, principal of Shrewsbury Academies Trust, said he was delighted that the academy had been formalised.

He added: “It is fantastic that this has led to the Grange being taken out of special measures so quickly, but in truth we were expecting this to happen this summer anyway after such glowing feedback from Ofsted’s last two monitoring reports.

“It is all extremely positive and there is a real buzz about the Grange at the moment.”

While Mr Pettengell oversees both the Grange and Sundorne as principal of the academy, Rob Hatch and Alex Raeside are the schools’ respective head teachers.

Mr Hatch, who took on his post at the beginning of the year, said that the atmosphere at the Grange has improved enormously since pupils and staff learned that it was no longer in special measures.

“We are all really pleased about the formation of the academy and being taken out of special measures,” said Mr Hatch.

“Added to that we are delighted with the maths results which have just come through – we are really confident that we can now follow Sundorne’s example and achieve outstanding results.”

Alex Raeside, who succeeded Mr Pettengell as head of Sundorne, said he was confident that the academy trust would prove a huge success.

“While the two schools within the trust operate independently of each other, each one has areas of specialism which it is able to offer the other,” he said.