A meeting of East Sussex County Council’s Cabinet today (Tuesday 11 March) agreed that Ninestiles Plus, a company run by Ninestiles School, should be awarded the contract to work with Hillcrest, Filsham Valley, and The Grove schools in an exciting collaboration designed to significantly raise standards and pupil attainment.
The County Council has previously agreed initial funding of £400,000 in 2008/09 for the collaboration, determined to improve achievement at the three schools. The project has also received £500,000 funding support from the Department for Children, Schools and Families (DCSF).
Councillorr Keith Glazier, the County Council’s Lead Member for Children’s and Adults’ Services said: “This really is a very exciting initiative and is a first in East Sussex. Improvements to educational standards are urgently required in the Hastings community and this is a radical solution.
“Everybody acknowledges that we need to do more to improve attainment in Hastings and do better by the town’s young people. That’s not to be critical of the schools or staff in Hastings – everyone is working extremely hard to raise standards but we have to be honest and admit that what has been tried so far has not succeeded in raising standards fast enough.”
The executive leader of the project will be Ninestiles School executive head teacher, Sir Dexter Hutt, who has a proven track record nationally of rapid and sustained improvement of schools.
Under the leadership of Sir Dexter, so successful was the transformation of Ninestiles School that it set up a company to offer training and improvement support to other schools across the country.
Councillor Glazier added: “This is a three-year initiative and we are totally committed to making it work. We have chosen Ninestiles because of its experience in leading and being solely responsible for improvement in three different partner schools all or which were in areas of deprivation and all of which were the most improved schools in their local authority in the first and second years of this leadership.”
When Sir Dexter became Head of Ninestiles School in 1988, it was a failing school with only six per cent of its students achieving five A*-C GCSEs. By 2006, 83% of its students had gained five A*-C grades. Thanks to its success it was invited to support a number of local schools and share its good practice and has done so since 2001. Ninestiles Plus is the company set up by the school which runs a wide range of training and improvement packages for schools up and down the country. It has also supported school improvement internationally working with schools in Indiana, USA and Cape Town in South Africa.
Knighted in 2004 for his services to education, Sir Dexter Hutt is now Executive Head of Ninestiles School and is also member of several national policy groups. He is nationally respected and recognised for the work he has done at Ninestiles and elsewhere. He will now become the executive leader of the Hastings collaboration.
Sir Dexter said: “The determination and commitment of those involved in the regeneration of Hastings is very evident. I feel both excited and privileged to have the opportunity to work with them. I look forward to working closely with the head teachers, governors and staff of the three schools. We all recognise that our young people hold the key to the future prosperity of the area – it is their qualifications, skills and attitudes that will underpin the regeneration of Hastings. And they certainly have the talent. Our job at Hillcrest, Filsham Valley and The Grove will be to develop new strategies, and continue to work closely with parents to ensure that our students achieve their true potential.”
Notes to editors
Sir Dexter Hutt became Head Teacher of Ninestiles School, a 1,500 student mixed comprehensive, in 1988. Under his leadership, Ninestiles has progressed from being a failing school to one of the country’s designated Leading Edge schools with 70+% of students gaining five or more A* - C’s. It has been awarded the highest ever quality of teaching grades by Ofsted during a full inspection and is one of the few schools in the country approved by the Teacher Development Agency to train its own teachers. The school’s culture is described by Ofsted Inspectors as ‘positive, vibrant and one in which individuals are valued and everyone strives for the best’.
Ninestiles is a specialist technology college. It has set up its own company, Ninestiles Plus, and become involved in school improvement nationally and internationally providing school improvement consultancy and courses for many schools. Ninestiles has often hosted visits from Ministers and senior education officials from the DCSF and Sir Dexter is a member of several national policy groups. He has also been a Commissioner for the Commission for Racial Equality.
Dexter Hutt is now the Executive Head of the Ninestiles Federation and has had overall responsibility for the progress of Ninestiles and three other secondary schools. Waverley School and The International School became the most improved in Birmingham in 2003 and 2004 respectively. Waverley was also the 3rd most improved in the country in 2004. Ninestiles is currently in partnership with Central Technology College in Gloucester which became the most improved in the county in 2006. Dexter Hutt was knighted in the 2004 New Year’s Honours List for services to education.
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