Headteacher’s Welcome

Welcome to Esteem North Academy 
 
We are an AP (alternative provision) Academy providing education to pupils who have been permanently excluded from mainstream education in the North of Derbyshire. Our provision caters for pupils in all Key Stages up to KS4, at sites located in Chesterfield and in the High Peak. We are commissioned by the Derbyshire Local Authority to educate pupils at day 6 after a permanent exclusion. We are a short term academy to take pupils to roll after a PEX. We aim for pupils to reintegrate to another school as soon as they are ready to do so. Parents are unable to elect our academy following the admissions process for Derbyshire and we should not be named in section I of an EHCP.  

Whilst the vast majority of our pupils have been permanently excluded, we will work closely with local school clusters and the local authority to provide opportunities to young people who are “at risk” of exclusion and offer dual registered placements where places permit. Such placements have previously been highly successful in preventing numerous permanent exclusions in Derbyshire, particularly at primary. However, due to the high volume of permanent exclusions in Derbyshire, paid for, commissioned dual registered places will be rare for 2025-26 as we must prioritise places for excluded pupils. 

We are committed to working in partnership with young people, their parents and carers, their schools and other agencies to re-engage pupils and enable them to become successful learners and responsible citizens. Where pupils are able to demonstrate positive and improved behaviour, and a desire to achieve, we aim to help them transition back to mainstream school. For those who require a more alternative approach, we provide a balanced and varied curriculum. We provide 6 different pathways of education and various bespoke options within those pathways. We can provide vocational alternative off- site AP which we commission, work experience, home tuition with our own bespoke pathways team, on site 1:1 learning opportunities as well as our on- site groups. We aim to be creative to provide pupils with an opportunity to reset, re-engage, improve relationships and in turn improve their positive behavioural responses and attendance over time.   

At Esteem North Academy we aim to create a positive culture for staff and pupils. “Culture is the continued pursuit of building the best, most talented, and happiest team we possibly can”. Andrew Wilkinson. We will focus on the positive and use praise, reward and consequence, not sanction. We aim to make progress over time from every pupils individual starting point.

Our academy sites are small and nurturing, with high staff to pupil ratios. Staff aim to support pupils to re-engage, meet pupil need and encourage them back on a pathway to success. We are very proud of the work that we do to re-engage pupils back into education and see how they flourish over time. 

We are very proud of the academy’s journey and received an overall ‘Good’ Ofsted judgement in February 2024. The academy also achieved the Centre of Excellence Inclusion Quality Mark in July 2024.  We feel that this is testament to our inclusive attitude to education for our staff, pupils, parents and all other stakeholders. We are a welcoming and supportive academy, with a relentless determination to provide the very best education for every child. We place pupils at the centre of everything we do, with a focus on creating a culture of success and a positive climate for learning.

 Janine Dix

Executive Headteacher