Many of you will be aware that, as a successful school, Monkwearmouth is eligible to apply to convert to Academy status. Over the last few months, the Headteacher and the Governing Body have been exploring what Academy status might mean for Monkwearmouth School; and we would now like to hear the views of our students, parents/carers and our wider community. It is our intention to establish a Multi Academy Trust (MAT), initially just with ourselves as the sole member. We...

You may have an opinion about the Government drive for all schools to become Academies, indeed more than half of the secondary schools both in Sunderland and across the country have either converted or are in the process of doing so. For a school to convert it needs to show it is either ‘good’ or it is ‘performing well’, we are now both. Governors have therefore decided that this is the ideal opportunity for us to consider our future and...

Traditionally, Christmas is a time to look back over the last year, reminisce and start to make plans and think about resolutions for the coming year. Last December Ofsted judged us to be almost Good. Aspects of behaviour and safety of our students, along with our leadership and management of the school were strengths, however, there were things which could be improved upon to produce better outcomes for our students. We showed we had listened and made improvements; you will...