Hillside Welcomes HMI

Hillside High School was pleased to welcome a monitoring visit from Anne Seneviratne, a representative of Her Majesty’s Inspectorate Team, to demonstrate the strengths and many improvements that have taken place at the school.

The whole school and Wade Deacon Trust continue to have high expectations for all of our pupils and the recent letter underpins the daily work which is taking place to ensure that Hillside continues to be a safe and positive learning environment for all of our current, and future, pupils.We were delighted that our high expectations were recognised in the letter from the Inspector, ‘Leaders have high expectations of all their pupils’ and that our curriculum was seen to be, ‘ambitious for all pupils.’ We are also delighted that the letter notes, ‘the inclusive culture of the school means that all pupils are supported well to complete their programmes of study.’

The letter comes after this summer’s GCSE results saw Hillside beat the National Averages in a number of subject areas. Over a third of Hillside pupils achieved at least one of the very top grades across their subjects, with 128 top grades achieved overall. Performance in English and Maths improved again, with over 65% of pupils achieving grades 9-4 in English and 60% of pupils in Maths. Across the curriculum there were some excellent results with: Art, Business Studies, Design Technology, Retail Business, Sports Studies and 3D Sculpture all exceeding 80% at grades 9-4. 21% of Hillside pupils achieved the challenging English Baccalaureate qualification.Without a doubt these results, combined with such a positive HMI letter, have made it a fantastic start to the year at Hillside.We work in strong collaboration with the Wade Deacon Trust to ensure we continue on our journey of improvement, with the pace and rigour needed to get the best for our pupils.

I am extremely proud to be Principal of Hillside High School and its strong place in our local community, which is exemplified in our mission statement of, ‘Excellence in the Heart of The Community’. We welcome any enquiries from pupils who would be interested in looking for a place in our school.

Morale of staff and pupils has never been higher and we value the contribution that they bring to school each day to ensure we move forward together. The behaviour, and pride in their school and community, that pupils demonstrate continues to be a source of great pride for myself, the Trust and Hillside staff.

We are already looking forward to the next visit from Ofsted, to be able to demonstrate and gain further validation that everything we are doing is right for our pupils and their education.This most recent HMI letter is positive about the work we are doing and clearly demonstrates the improvements made to our pupils’ educational experience at Hillside High School.