Kate Hester’s story
Kingsmead serves a deprived area in Canterbury. Nearly half the pupils have special needs and a third claim free school meals.
She said: “Being in special measures was a positive experience. It is never pleasant to have that label put on your school when you know very good things are happening in it and it is improving. But we never thought about the label. It was a real team effort with everybody working together and we had a lot of staff socials.”
Last year, inspectors found that teaching and learning had improved significantly at the school and praised Ms Hester’s leadership as “strong and sensitive”.Now it is one of 122 cited in the chief inspector’s report after coming out of special measures last year.
OUT OF SPECIAL MEASURES
Acres Hill primary, Sheffield
Aldwyn primary and motor-impaired resource base, Tameside
Alexandra high and sixth-form centre, Sandwell
Ashton West End primary
early-years centre and visually-impaired resource base, Tameside
Barstable, Essex
Beaudesert lower, Bedfordshire
Beauherne community, Kent
Bedewell primary, South Tyneside
Broadwater first and middle, West Sussex
Brookfield, Herefordshire
Brownhills high, City of Stoke-on-Trent
Bushy Hill junior, Surrey
Cherry Hinton community junior, Cambridgeshire
Churchfields performing arts college, Swindon
Cliffey House, Worcestershire
Clifton primary, City of Kingston upon Hull
Colton Hills community, Wolverhampton
Copperfields College, Leeds
Costessey junior, Norfolk
Crosland Moor junior, Kirklees
De Bohun primary, Enfield
Doucecroft, Essex
Downderry primary, Lewisham
Drapers Mills primary, Kent
Ecclesbourne primary, Islington
Elfrida primary, Lewisham
Fartown high, Kirklees
Fulbridge junior, Peterborough
Gorsthills community primary, Cheshire
Great Wishford first, Wiltshire
Hartshead Moor, Kirklees
Hartsholme primary, Lincolnshire
Hawkswood school and centre, Waltham Forest
Heath Mount primary, Birmingham
Heber primary, Southwark
Henbury, Bristol
Heronsgate primary, Greenwich
Highbury Quadrant primary, Islington
Highfields community primary, Northamptonshire
Highwood primary, Wokingham
Holy Cross primary, Essex
Hreod Parkway, Swindon
Jessop primary, Lambeth
Kingsland, Hackney
Kingsmead primary, Kent
Kinsley junior infants and nursery, Wakefield
Knottingley Ferrybridge infants, Wakefield
Laburnum primary, Hackney
Langbourne primary, Southwark
Langmoor primary, Leicestershire
Larchfield primary and nursery, Windsor and Maidenhead
Lea Manor high, Luton
Lemington middle, Newcastle upon Tyne
Mandeville upper, Buckinghamshire
Martindale primary and nursery, Hertfordshire
Matching Green primary, Essex
Mayfield, City of Portsmouth
Mayflower primary, Essex
Montgomery, Kent
Moor Green junior, Birmingham
Moseley Park, Wolverhampton
Mossley primary, Walsall
Mount primary and nursery, Nottinghamshire
Nash Mills primary, Hertfordshire
Netherton primary, Dudley
New Mills primary, Derbyshire
Pin Green primary and nursery, Hertfordshire
Poolbrook primary, Worcestershire
Preston tutorial centre, Lancashire
Quarrendon upper, Buckinghamshire
Rathfern primary, Lewisham
Ravenstonedale endowed, Cumbria
Ravens Bank first, Worcestershire
Redlands community primary, Leicestershire
Richmond first, Kent
Royal Alexandra and Albert, Surrey
Salisbury, Enfield
Saviour primary, Manchester
Senacre technology college, Kent
Silkmore community primary, Staffordshire
Silverbank Centre, Medway
Sinfin community, Derby
South Street primary, Bristol
Sparhawk first and nursery, Sprowston, Norfolk
St Andrew’s community junior, Cambridgeshire
St Andrew’s nursery and infants, Essex
St Anne’s Catholic primary, Hampshire
St Anselm primary, Ealing
St Edmund, Tower Hamlets
St Francis, Westborough community primary, Surrey
St Helen’s infants, Waltham Forest
St Helen’s primary, Medway
St John the Evangelist primary, Staffordshire
St John’s primary, Kent
St Mary’s primary, Lancashire
St Mary’s primary, Warwickshire
St Peter and St John primary, Salford
St Philip Howard primary, Kent
St Philip’s primary, Bath and North East Somerset
St Stephen’s CofE primary, Wolverhampton
St Thomas community primary, Manchester
Starbeck community primary, North Yorkshire
Stepney Green, Tower Hamlets
Syon Park, Hounslow
Temple Normanton primary, Derbyshire
Thamesview, Kent
The Beeches primary, City of Peterborough
The Blessed John Roche, Tower Hamlets
Furness primary, Brent
Lakes, Cumbria
Ockendon, Thurrock
Skegness junior, Lincolnshire
Thomas Whitehead, Bedfordshire
Tidemill primary, Lewisham
Troon community primary, Cornwall
Victoria Avenue community, Manchester
Wey House, Surrey
Windmill Hills community primary, Gateshead
Wingrove primary, Newcastle upon Tyne
Winkleigh primary, Devon
Woodhouse Close junior, Durham
Wychbold first and nursery, Worcestershire
Colleges and sixth-forms that were inadequate and are now making adequate
provision
Cecil Jones high, Southend on Sea
Eastwood comprehensive, Nottinghamshire
Redbridge college, Redbridge
Stockport college of FE and HE, Stockport
Torc high, Staffordshire
A list of the 415 particularly successful schools, is available on the TES website, www.tes.co.uk
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