Gilbert Inglefield Academy

About Gilbert Inglefield Academy

Gilbert Inglefield Academy is a popular 9-13 middle school of 450 pupils, though expected to expand further in the near future. The school is situated on the outskirts on Leighton Buzzard, and expanding market town in the south of Bedfordshire. It is well served by rail and motorways to London and the Midlands – London is only 40 minutes by train. The city of Milton Keynes with a wide range of facilities is nearby.

The school covers both the primary and secondary curriculum at Key Stages 2 and 3, with pupils undertaking an accelerated KS3 in English and maths. Primary pupils have the opportunity to be taught by specialist teachers using secondary-level facilities and so achieve well.

Gilbert Inglefield became and Academy in 2012 and standards have risen during this period. Our last Ofsted inspection in June 2016 saw us returning to a ‘Good’ rating following an unfortunate inspection in January 2015 which placed us in Special Measures following a dip in the Maths results back in 2014. Standards recovered quickly which resulted in us returning back to the “Good” rating previously held. Our Key Stage 2 results tend to be around the national average but by the time pupils leave us at the end of year 8 to go to Upper School, they are achieving above national averages for children a whole year older.

Our school is known within the community for being caring and inclusive. Our Aspire unit is dedicated to supporting our most vulnerable children and has had great success in ensuring these children make great progress and achieve their potential, despite difficult life circumstances. Similarly, our most and least able children make excellent progress here at Gilberts. Behaviour in the school is good: our pupils have a very positive attitude to learning, are engaged and eager to learn.

Gilberts is also known for the excellent quality of its provision for sports and the arts. We were originally established as a Sports Academy and have had much success at local, County and regional level in a wide range of sports. Our Music department is especially strong and Gilberts’ pupils perform at many local events as well as for Lower Schools in the area. Drama and the visual arts are also a key strength of the school. In addition, the school holds the Gold Quality mark for standards in RE teaching and several teachers of foundation subjects are recognised by other schools for their expertise.

The school has a good range of specialist facilities: there are three well-equipped Science laboratories; a music block; design studio and workshop; art and pottery room; food technology room; gym and large library as well as a range of ICT suites and tablets. The school is well-equipped for modern approaches to learning with interactive whiteboards in all teaching rooms.

The school is well-staffed with a number of outstanding and experienced teachers and staff work together well. Ours is a very happy and supportive staffroom. Over the years we have provided mentors and coaches for trainee teachers and NQTs with great success. Our Head Teacher, who joined the school at the end of 2014, is a Local Leader of Education, previously Head of an Outstanding school. This is a school in which innovation is welcomed and staff are supported in developing new ideas and exploring their own potential.

The school has achieved the national Healthy Schools Award, Sportsmark and a Gold Award for Safeguarding. We have an active School Council and Eco Council and encourage responsibility in our pupils through the Young Sports leaders programme, Music Leaders, ICT Champions and Anti-Bullying Ambassadors.

We ensure our pupils have an enriched curriculum by offering a huge range of extra-curricular clubs and activities, for which participation rates are very high. In addition we run termly cross-curricular “Theme days” and both day trips and residentials. Holidays are often used for trips further afield such as skiing in Italy or sports tours to Spain or the Netherlands. All staff are offered the opportunity to join these trips.

Our governing body is very supportive and they are a well-informed team who visit the school often and take part in many events.

We hope you will want to join Gilberts: we are a very happy school with great pupils, supportive, hard-working staff and an atmosphere in which every person is valued and able to develop.