Basildon: A Model for Educational Excellence

In just two years, several failing schools in Basildon have turned the tables, receiving 'good' or 'outstanding' Ofsted ratings in 2013. Other schools have improved and by next year, headteachers across the town are confident all their schools will be rated “good” or “outstanding”.

There have been several contributing factors to these achievements: successful schools have agreed to step in and  help out struggling neighbours immediately if needed; all schools, academies and local authority-maintained schools, have signed up for the town’s excellence panel; the town’s teaching school, Lee Chapel, sees its role as training new recruits for every primary school in the town - not just its own; successful heads act as mentors to newly-appointed ones.

Now Basildon's pioneering model could be adopted by schools across the rest of the country. Plans are already underway to extend the scheme to other counties and possibly, extending the blueprint to secondary schools too.