Dudley Academies Trust

“As the Chief Executive of Dudley Academies Trust, I am extremely proud of the immense progress our secondary academies have made in the two years that we have been operational.

“The Trust was set up to help transform education in Dudley. “We want all of our young people to have a high-quality education that will give them the foundations they need for a fulfilling life and a rewarding future career. We are well on the way to achieving these goals.

“I am delighted that all four secondary academies significantly improved their results in both 2019 and 2020 and delighted for our learners. Their results are not only a massive improvement on last year, but a clear indication that standards of teaching and learning in our academies have leapt forward.

“There has been much talk about grade inflation this year. The Trust has a proven model for predicting GCSE grades which enables us to be certain about the overall accuracy of our results. It was pleasing to see that our teacher-assessed grades have been significantly raised by the examination boards.

This is proof of the robust and realistic approach that we took to assessing our learners. All the grades our learners achieved are the grades they deserved. The improvements shown by our academies are all real improvements.

“If schools league tables were being published for 2020, I am sure that our academies would have moved up significantly.

“We are able to achieve these and many other advances because we have a large and experienced Central Team that supports each academy with its leadership, teaching, building programmes, sports and activities, financial management, staff training, IT and – most importantly – the progress and wellbeing of your children.

“We have recruited numerous excellent staff to our academies and made some outstanding appointments to their leadership teams.

“I am confident that our academies will continue to make great strides forward.”

Jo Higgins

“We have introduced a proven system of rewards and behaviour management that has changed the culture of our classrooms, accompanied by a raft of new approaches to teaching.

“Many millions of pounds have already been invested in improving the buildings, facilities and computing equipment of our academies, and another £5 million is being spent this year.

“I am confident that our academies will continue to make great strides forward over the next few years, and that your child will find every opportunity to thrive there and to develop as a rounded and confident young person.

“We want your child to ‘Dream Big’ and to know that many positive life choices are within their reach. Working with you, we will do everything in our power to make that a reality.

“I can say to parents that if their children come to one of our academies, they will have every opportunity to excel.”

Jo Higgins, Chief Executive of

Dudley Academies Trust