The Iffley Academy

The Iffley Academy is a community Special Academy for children and young people up to the age of 18 with complex special educational needs. Our students have a range of needs but primarily we work with students with Moderate Cognition and Learning Difficulties, Autistic Spectrum Disorder and/or Social, Emotional and Mental Health difficulties. All of our students have Education, Health and Care Plans, or Statements of Special Educational Needs.

The Iffley Academy is part of a growing multi-academy trust of special schools. The Gallery Trust are working with the Department for Education to open a new free special school in North Oxfordshire for pupils with complex Special Educational Needs. This project is in the pre-opening stage whilst we find the exact site for the brand-new academy buildings. The school will offer specialist day provision for children and young people aged 7 to 18, and will mirror the values and practices of The Iffley Academy, Oxford, which was judged to be Outstanding by Ofsted in January 2015.

In Spring 2018 our new academy buildings will begin to take shape as our construction team move onto site to start the exciting re-build of our new school. We hope to start moving into our new buildings in July 2019. The architects have provided some innovative and exciting learning spaces for our students and we are really excited about our move and the further opportunities this will give our students.

The academy is also working on an application to the DfE to become an academy sponsor. This will enable the trust to sponsor other schools that require our Special Educational Needs and Disabilities expertise, skills and experience to improve their own educational offer. We have a strong track record of working on school to school projects with local academies and schools and the academy has recently been designated as a National Support School by the National College of Teaching and Leadership (NCTL). Kay Willett, Head Teacher of the Iffley Academy and Senior Executive Lead of the trust has also been recognised by the NCTL as an outstanding head teacher and is a designated National Leader in Education (NLE).

The Iffley Academy also has a Specialist Leader in Education (SLE) Tom Procter-Legg, who is supporting other schools through SEND reviews. This work is carried out through the Oxfordshire Teaching Schools Alliance and The London Leadership Strategy working directly with WholeSchoolSEND