Ofsted Inspection Report

September 2024

We were judged ‘Good’ across all criteria in our recent Ofsted inspection in July 2024. There have been significant improvements made across all aspects of our school. The published report states that the quality of education, behaviour and attitudes, personal development and leadership and management are all good.

Specific highlights include:

  • A warm and welcoming environment for pupils.
  • Pupils feel safe and happy.  They have strong relationships with staff.  The vast majority behave well in lessons and around school.
  • Teachers know pupils well and have high ambitions for their success.
  • The school has built a reading culture across all age groups.  Pupils who find reading more difficult have the support that they need to catch up quickly.
  • Pupils prosper from a range of wider opportunities.
  • Current pupils have benefitted from a much-strengthened quality of education and most pupils are now achieving well.
  • Staff meet the needs of pupils with Special Educational Needs and Disabilities well.

I am hugely proud of all our young people and our staff. I also want to thank our parents and our community for the confidence they have shown in us in our determination to make St. Anne’s one of the very best schools for young people in our area. We continue to be on a journey of change and improvement to achieve the best for everyone, and it is wonderful to see that being recognised by Ofsted. We can give our young people a great future when we work together and have faith, focused on the best for everyone and the best from everyone.”

Chris Heyes, Headteacher of St Anne’s Academy


” It’s all about the people. Our purpose as a trust is to ensure that all our young people have an education that enables them to achieve well and become the best people that they can be. It’s to invest in and develop all our staff so that they can do their best for our students and be proud of what they do and the difference they make. We are delighted that the quality of what St Anne’s is doing for the young people of Rochdale has been recognised by Ofsted,  and by our students’ GCSE outcomes this summer which will enable them to progress confidently and well to the next stage of education and training.”  

Julie Hollis, CEO of the Cranmer Education Trust

You can download a full copy of the report here:

Let’s Keep Swimming Safe and Fun…

When we think about swimming and spending time in the water, it’s usually the good times that come to mind.

As we are now in the summer term and the weather is improving people are naturally drawn to our outdoor spaces. Many of these outdoor spaces have sites of open water which do not benefit from the professional supervision we may enjoy at beaches.

Most sites do have safety warnings and advise people not to enter the water, but as we know in hotter weather people are inclined to ignore these signs. In recent years this has resulted in several deaths within the open water sites of Greater Manchester, some of the those being young people.

Greater Manchester Fire Rescue Service (GMFRS) crews have seen a rise in young people using open water sites in the past couple of weeks and we want to ensure that our students are aware of the safety messages.

GMFRS produces a range of safety advice for the summer period, please take the time to view the link of their annual Safe4Summer campaign.

Safe4Summer – Greater Manchester Fire Rescue Service

GMFRS also works in partnership with all ten Local Authorities, GMP and United Utilities to provide advice and guidance to keep our communities safe when they are around sites of open water. In 2020 a dedicated Water Safety campaign was launched, a similar campaign will be launched very soon for 2021 and a range of safety messages will be included in this campaign.

Further water safety advice can be found using the below link.

Water safety – Greater Manchester Fire Rescue Service

Ukrainian Crisis Appeal 2022

We are launching an appeal to help the thousands of families caught up in the conflict in Ukraine.  Many have lost their homes and have been forced to flee the fighting.

Our staff and students are collecting donations to send to the Ukraine and are working with the Ukrainian Centre in Manchester who will be transporting these items for us.

In addition from Monday 21st March we will be selling raffle tickets for a chocolate bouquet that has been kindly donated by Thorpy Sweet Treatz . Tickets will be priced at 25p per ticket or a strip for £1. Tickets are available to buy from the students form or at student services.

On Friday 25th March 2022 we are organising a Blue and Yellow Day, this means that each student can wear an extra item of either blue or yellow and bring a donation of 50p-£1 in for the Ukraine Crisis Appeal.

After school on the same day we will also hosting a “soak the teacher” event on the Muga. This gives students a chance to throw a sponge and soak a teacher at a cost of 50p per sponge or 3 sponges for £1. All contributions will go the Ukrainian Centre in Manchester.

Aladdin

Come and lose yourself in our spectacular performance of Aladdin. Be transported to the far away town of Peking and see some familiar faces along the way, beware of the evil villain Abanazer and keep your eyes peeled for the flirtatious Widow Twankey you never know just where they may be lurking. From everyone at St Anne’s Academy we hope you enjoy the show….

St Anne’s Heroes Deliver Christmas Joy.

St Annes year 10 Heroes and their year 7 mentees have teamed up with Tesco’s community champion Julie Colasurdo and PCSO  Bill Walsh from GMP neighbourhood Middleton to deliver some Christmas joy. 12 care and nursing homes across Middleton and Heywood received a handwritten letter by the heroes along with boxes of gifts and chocolate for the key workers. St Annes students wanted to let residents know that the younger generation are still thinking about them at Christmas and recognise that they have done so well in lockdown.

The staff that received the gifts was completely overwhelmed by the gesture and good will, in the words of Tesco every little helps!

Year 11 Maximise Event

This is an important year for all of our Year 11 students as the GCSE Examinations are fast approaching. We are holding the Maximise Event to ensure all of our Year 11s have the best chance of being successful in their exams next year.

Part of the journey to being successful next year is preparing for examinations.  All students in Year 11 will be completing Year 11 College Application Examinations in all subjects from Monday 8th November to Thursday 2nd December 2021.  Please see a copy of the timetable which you can find published on the Academy website.  When students are not in an examination, they will attend lessons as normal.

The Maximise Event will start with a presentation on revision techniques/strategies, how you as parents/carers can best support your child in completing revision at home, the Year 11 College Application Examinations, our expectations of your child’s attendance and conduct during the examination period and an update on Summer 2022 Examinations. 

After the presentation all students will receive:

  • Free revision guides and/or workbooks for each of their subjects
  • Details on the best way to revise for examinations
  • Subject to-do lists in preparation for their college application mock exams
  • A copy of the College Application Examination schedule

There will also be an opportunity during the evening to talk to staff and enjoy a curry and refreshments, free of charge.

We cannot stress enough the importance of these examinations in that the results will be used for students’ sixth form, college or any other post 16-provider applications.  Whilst we hope and expect that all examinations will be able to take place next year the government have contingency plans in place.  If examinations are cancelled, then grades will be determined through teacher assessment.  The College Application Examinations will be a key part of any teacher assessed grade as they provide students with an opportunity to demonstrate their knowledge and understanding across the full range of content they have been taught.  It is therefore vitally important that students take these examinations seriously, attend school and participate in ALL scheduled examinations. 

GCSE Results Class of 2021: More top grades than ever before at St Anne’s Academy.

Congratulations to all our hard working students receiving some fantastic GCSE results, with more top grades (9s) and high-level results (grades 9-7), than ever before.

Overall, St Anne’s students achieved nearly 300 high level grades, of which 47 were grade 9 (or equivalent).

Four ‘elite linguists’ also achieved A* at A Level Spanish. Mr Correa Hernandez, Head of Languages, said: “I am so proud of our modern foreign language students. They have all worked immensely hard and deserve their excellent results. We pushed some of our best linguists to do A-level 2 years earlier and we are delighted they all gain the top A* grade.”

We also want to congratulate our top performers who worked so hard to achieve some amazing grades, well done to you all.

Aishat Azeez who achieved an A* at A level along with nine grade 9s and one grade 7.

Declan McParland who achieved three grade 9s, four grade 8s and three grade 7s.

Keegan Cullen who achieved three grade 9s, three grade 8s, one grade 7 and three grade 6s.

Fortune Uwadiae who achieved an A* at A level along with three grade 9s, three grade 8s, one grade 7, one grade 6 and two grade 5s.

Jasmine Oldham who achieved one grade 9, five grade 8s and four grade 7s.

Mr Heyes, Headteacher, said: “We are so glad that we were able to celebrate our students’ achievements. This has been a very challenging year for all students up and down the country and their attainment is testament to the hard work that our students and staff have put in.”

We want to take this opportunity to wish all of our students the best of luck in the future.

Summer Fun with The Rochdale Hornets.

The Rochdale Hornets are delighted to offer our pupils FREE complimentary tickets to watch all their match days this summer.
For more information please click the link to read Chief Executive of The Rochdale Hornets, Steve Kerr’s letter to all parents, pupils and teachers. Make sure you don’t miss out on this amazing offer of getting involved in the great sport of Rugby.

Book your tickets here using the unique code HORNETS-STAA in your basket.
The voucher code is valid for the remainder of the season so visit the website and pick the games you want to come and watch.

The fun doesn’t stop there…..

If you are an avid Rugby fan or you want to learn the sport, then why not join the coaching team for action packed fun holiday camp. You will be learning all the core and fundamental skills in Rugby League PLUS there will be fun games and lots more.

There are two camps you can attend :

Week 1 will be from Mon 26th – Thursday 29th July

Week 2 will be from Tues 3rd – Friday 6th August

Click the link for more details regarding the Summer Camp or you can contact Kirsty to reserve a place on :

Phone: 01706 648 008

Email: [email protected]

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St Anne's Church of England Academy is proud to be part of the Cranmer Education Trust

Cranmer Education Trust is a company limited by guarantee and an exempt charity registered in England. Company registration number: 07687709. Registered Office: Cranmer Education Trust, c/o The Blue Coat School, Egerton Street, Oldham OL1 3SQ. The website address is www.cranmereducationtrust.com and the phone number 0161 785 5082.