Ambition and support prove to be a winning combination

Half of Archbishop Sentamu Academy’s year 11 students were from poor homes last year according to official figures from the Department for Education.

But despite this the Hull school easily surpassed the Government’s GCSE targets with 49 per cent of pupils earning five A* to C grades including English and maths. This included 42 per cent of its pupils from deprived backgrounds.

This compares with a Yorkshire wide average of 27.6 per cent and a Hull average of 28.7 per cent.

The school’s principal Andrew Chubb said: “I would start by saying that our Christian ethos means that we see every child as equal in the sight of God.

“We have a highly inclusive atmosphere where pupils feel safe and welcome and know that their problems can be resolved.

“We have invested in pastoral care. We say that any problem or issue which one of our pupils raises is being dealt with within 45 minutes of them telling us about it.

“We have five houses in the school and each house has a teaching mentor, a teaching assistant and a student liaison officer who students can speak to for example if they have had a terrible row with their parents.”

Mr Chubb said this approach shows pupils they are cared for and helps to stop problems in a child’s life outside of the classroom from impacting on their learning or behaviour inside the school. However Mr Chubb said that schools should guard against using pupils backgrounds as a reason not to set high expectations.

He said: “It would be easy in some cases to think that just by getting to school that some students had done well but we insist on setting high expectations.”

He also emphasised the importance of tailoring the school’s curriculum to meet the individual needs of every student and on the school’s huge focus on literacy.