Trust Progress Report
Khalsa Secondary Academy and Khalsa Academies Trust Progress Report
Dear Parents/Carers and Community Members
I am writing to provide you with a very positive progress report on the Khalsa Secondary Academy and the Khalsa Academies Trust.
Khalsa Secondary Academy
Khalsa Secondary Academy has now made considerable progress on the areas highlighted by the Ofsted report. Two external audits have confirmed that safeguarding is effective and that governance at the school and at the Trust is good.
Positive SEND Audit
Last week, a Special Education Needs and Disability (SEND) audit was carried out by a highly respected, nationally recognised, independent SEND consultant, Natalie Packer, who confirmed that: “A significant amount of progress has been made with regards to SEND since the recent arrival of the Headteacher and AHT / Inclusion Lead, particularly with the development of new systems and processes. Leaders have accurately identified the strengths and areas for improvement, as demonstrated in the detailed SEN Improvement Plan. SLT, governors and trustees have a clear and ambitious vision for pupils with SEND and are fully committed tocontinuing to secure further improvements in the quality of SEND provision. The capacity of the leadership team to continue making these improvements is very good”.
The detailed audit reports can be found on our website by clicking here.
Revised Curriculum ready for September
The Key Stage 3 curriculum work has been completed and is now ready for implementation in September 2020.
Safeguarding now effective
We were pleased to note that Baroness Berridge, the Academies Minister has acknowledged in her recent letter to our Chair that “She is pleased that the Anchored School’s audit report confirms that safeguarding is effective”.
We therefore believe all of the points raised by Ofsted are largely complete and we look forward to assessing the impact of all this work once lockdown is lifted and students return to school as normal.
Trust Update
Financial Notice to Improve (FNTI)
We have also made considerable progress with the action plan and can confirm that 98% of the required actions have now been completed.
Trust has achieved Financial Surplus
The Khalsa Academies Trust is now in a financial surplus as of May 2020 and will end this academic year with a strong financial performance.
Positive Staff Surveys
One of the actions was for the Trust to conduct staff surveys across all three schools. These staff surveys confirm that the leadership of the Trust is founded on a strong ethos. 79% of staff indicated that they are satisfied with the support they have received from the Trust leadership this term and 71% of staff said they feel appreciated by the school and Trust leaders”
Positive Parent Surveys
The Trust was also asked to conduct parent surveys in July 2020 across all of our three schools.The results show that 83% of parents believe that their child is safe and happy at the school. 79% of parents across all three schools would recommend the school to other parents.
Allegations against the CEO unfounded
It is disappointing that some individuals have chosen to embark on a malicious social mediacampaign against the CEO and others for their own personal agendas. The Board in conjunction with the DFE commissioned the London Borough of Hackney to conduct an independent investigation into allegations made against the CEO. The investigation report confirmed that all the allegations were all unfounded. The Board has confirmed that the CEO has been completely exonerated.
New Trustees
An advert for new experienced trustees was placed by the Academy Ambassadors, an organisation linked to the DFE. We are currently considering those with strong financial, SEND and HR experience.
Three experienced Ofsted Inspectors providing support to the school
The Trust is providing high quality support to the Khalsa Secondary Academy through three experienced Ofsted inspectors, the first is Simon Webb, an ex-HMI who is providing curriculumsupport, the second is Avtar Sherri who chairs the Interim Executive Board and provides supportand challenge. The third, Susan Jackson is a Trustee and is the safeguarding trustee. Please findan update on progress from each of them below:
Update from Avtar Singh Sherri, Chair of Interim Executive Board
The members of the Interim Executive Board have been meeting regularly and have worked extremely hard to fully address the areas for improvement identified in the school’s previous inspection. We have been specifically focusing on safeguarding, special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND) and the curriculum at key stage 3.
Members of the board, including leaders and staff, have worked relentlessly to ensure policies and practices are updated accordingly to meet all the requirements.
The safeguarding policy meets statutory requirements and leaders have ensured that all staff are appropriately trained and receive regular training on safeguarding and child protection issues. We are confident that there is a now a strong culture of safeguarding in the school and the arrangements for safeguarding students and pupils are effective. An external independent audit also confirms that safeguarding in the school is effective.
An action plan to address the weaknesses identified in relation to SEND has been fully implemented. All the relevant policies and practices to support the needs of pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities have been reviewed and updated. We are confident that the provision for pupils with SEND is effective. The key stage 3 curriculum has been completely reviewed and meets requirements. Curriculum plans and schemes of work fully in place to ensure pupils receive a broad and relevant curriculum to meet their needs and aspirations.
Update from Susan Jackson, Vice Chair of Trustees (Standards) and Lead SafeguardingTrustee
Under the new Headteacher and Designated Safeguarding Lead, systems for safeguarding at Khalsa Secondary Academy have become robust. Staff are receiving regular training to further their understanding of safeguarding. The Trustees are firmly committed to ensuring that a culture of vigilance permeates every aspect of the life of the school, and that every child is both safe and secure at all times.
Update from Simon Webb, Director of School Improvement
Since March 2020 I have been working with all the trust schools and we have been working collaboratively on reviewing and re-writing a new common curriculum across all three schools. The new curriculum draws on best practice form some of the highest performing multi academy trusts in the country, Ofsted new framework and Khalsa uniqueness as a Sikh faith trust. The aim of the new curriculum is to deepen the way subjects are taught so that pupils use higher standards of literacy and numeracy in all subjects and learn about a wider range of careers routes open to them. The writing phase of the curriculum was completed in June 2020 and we are now quality assuring the plans ready for a launch in all schools in September 2020. A summary of the new curriculum will be published on the school websites by the end of September 2020.
Latest update
The Trust and the Network of Sikh Organisations have requested that DFE should wait for Ofsted to revisit the school to confirm the significant progress that has been made by Chris Drew and his team. Instead, the DFE has issued a Termination Notice.
Given the very significant work that has been achieved both at Trust and at the school, we believe the decision to issue the Termination Notice is unfair and we personally believe that it is NOT in the best interests of the school, its staff, students and parents to transfer the school to another Trust and we with the parents will challenge this decision legally.
The RSC has asked that we make the position of the DFE clear to parents which is as follows:“The strong preference of the Department is for the Academy to transfer to a strong performingsponsor that will respect the Sikh ethos of the school”. We attach the letter from the RSC that she asked us to share with you.
Please support us to keep the school within the current Trust.
If any parent wishes to discuss and or meet us via zoom or in person, please contact Pam Kholsa on p.khosla@khalsaacademiestrust.com to arrange an appointment.
We wish you a safe break and look forward to seeing some return of normality in September.
Yours sincerely
Shaminder Kaur Rayatt Nick Singh Kandola
Chair of Trustees Trust Leader and CEO
Khalsa Academies Trust Khalsa Academies Trust
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