Ryde Academy

History

Education on the school site began with Ryde High School which was a 13–18 school built and opened in 1964 to accommodate the expanding population of Ryde, the largest town on the Isle of Wight. The school was successful in achieving a Specialist Languages Status and a Media and Arts Specialism. In 2008 the Isle of Wight education authority decided to abolish the tripartite education system (of First schools, Middle Schools and High Schools) and instead adopt the two stage, Primary School and Secondary school model used by the majority of authorities in England. According to the new two stage model Ryde High School would be extended from the 712 pupils of 13–18 age range, and it would become an Academy for 1200 pupils aged 11–18.

Academy chains were invited to bid for the contract to run the new Ryde Academy 11–18 school. The contract was won by Academies Enterprise Trust which took over Ryde Academy (and also two other schools on the Isle of Wight: Sandown Bay Academy and Weston Academy) in 2012.

In 2014, Ryde Academy was successful in acquiring the site of a local primary school which was closing, and this became the new Haylands Sixth Form Centre.

The last headteacher of Ryde High School was Linda McGowan. The first Principal of Ryde Academy was Rob Hoddle who resigned in 2013. He was replaced by the Vice Principal, Debbie Price, who became acting Principal in Nov 2013 until a new principal could be appointed. Dr Rory Fox was appointed as Executive Principal to provide external support to Mrs Price. Eric Jackson took over leadership of the Academy in January 2015, and Joy Ballard was appointed as Principal for September 2015.

In early 2024, Joy Ballard took a step back from the school. A spokesperson for Academy Enterprise Trust said: "Mrs Ballard has been away from work for personal reasons." AET has not commented if she will return to the school, leaving Vice Principal Will Doyle to lead the school with assistance from AET. It was later announced that Joy Ballard had decided to retire from teaching after 30 years.

In late 2024, the new Principal was announced to be former Vice Principal Will Doyle with other staff stepping up to take his previous position.

With Will Doyle taking over as principal, and AET rebranding as Lift Schools, it was announced that Ryde Academy would be renamed to Lift Ryde from the start of the 2025-26 school term. As of 2025, these changes are occurring.

Academic achievements

In 2007, Ryde High School was commended by the Department for Education (called DfES at the time) for its achievements with disadvantaged pupils. In 2010, before Ryde High School became Ryde Academy, it was judged by OFSTED to be providing a "Satisfactory" quality of education. In its first inspection as an Academies Enterprise Trust (AET) school, OFSTED judged that standards were "inadequate".

GCSE results since 2004 have improved as follows:

In the summer of 2014, Ryde Academy reported its biggest ever improvement in results, with a 200% improvement in the proportion of pupils gaining A/A* grades In the Summer of 2015, when AET asked Eric Jackson (from AET's "troubled" Sandown Bay Academy) to lead Ryde Academy, the GCSE results plummeted to 36% (compared to Carisbrooke College 53% and Priory School 54%).

A level results have gone from 3% of pupils gaining A/A* results in 2010, to 50% of pupils gaining A/A* in 2016.

In terms of its OFSTED grades, the academy has improved steadily from "inadequate" in 2013 to "requires improvement" in 2014, to "good" in Nov 2016. The leader of the Isle of Wight Council, Jonathan Bacon, said: "This is great news...I have no doubt that the school will continue to build upon this achievement..." Principal, Joy Ballard, said: "I'm fed up reading about what a bad deal the island's education system seems to be giving to its kids."

Extra curricular and community achievements

• Rock Challenge: the academy competes each year and in 2013 won the Southern Premier competition. In 2015 Ryde Academy came second in the national finals.
• Young Enterprise Challenge. The Ryde High School team won the 2010 Isle of Wight finals.
• National Citizen Service events, including in 2016 a residential event at Marwell Zoo, followed by a second week at PGL Little Canada. as well as hosting tea parties for local residential care homes at the Sixth Form Centre.
• International links: in February 2011, Ryde High were the first school in the country to send students to Bangladesh on a trip. The students went as part of the Connecting Classrooms project and visited five schools around the country.
• Financial Management: Prior to joining the Academies Enterprise Trust Ryde High School was suffering from a significant deficit in the region of £1m. but by 2015 the academy had managed to reverse that situation, into a surplus of more than £1m.

Controversies

In 2014, there was a crackdown on school uniform which led to an estimated 250 to 300 pupils being removed from lessons and sent home or placed in isolation, due to uniform infringements which included issues with skirt length, shoes and socks, and trousers. Some pupils were sent home, and some were placed in isolation. The incident received widespread coverage from BBC South Today, The Times, The Telegraph and the Loose Women television show. As a result of the Academy's actions, some parents removed their children from the school and Academies Enterprise Trust said that they fully supported Ryde Academy.

In the same year, a controversy erupted when teaching unions at Ryde academy were challenged for defending poorly performing teachers who were accused of letting down the education of the children within the academy. Matters came to a head in February 2015 when under-performing union members were due to be dismissed, but Ian Comfort, the CEO of Academies Enterprise Trust intervened to prevent that from taking place.

In January 2015, OFSTED criticized the Academies Enterprise Trust for failing to provide enough support to Ryde Academy in order to help the academy to improve standards at a faster rate. When academic standards at neighbouring Sandown Bay Academy collapsed and Academies Enterprise Trust were unable to improve the school, they announced in 2017 a plan to close Sandown Bay Academy and the transfer of all the pupils to Ryde Academy. The principal and governors of Ryde announced that they had not even been consulted about the plan and that they had discovered it from AET's press statements. There were widespread protests across the Isle of Wight about the poor performance of AET and the way that AET were behaving with the Island's schools, leading to a demand that AET should be removed from managing all schools on the Isle of Wight, including Ryde Academy.

In October 2024, there was significant parental uproar due to changes brought to the school by new Principal Will Doyle and Lift Schools. Changes involved banning phones via locking them in a Yondr phone pouch and strict new uniform policies, which resulted in brand new Year 7 students being suspended and given isolation on their first day at the academy. The main changes were the involvement of stricter rules on skirt length and banning crew-necked jumpers, with only V-necked jumpers being permitted. Additional controversy was caused by the long queues to unlock the phone pouches, resulting in students missing school buses. The uproar was significantly increased with school staff deleting all comments on their facebook page, essentially censoring parents who had issues or concerns.

Notable former pupils and staff

• Kelly Sotherton – English heptathlete
• Razzle (musician) - drummer of Finnish glam rock band Hanoi Rocks
• Shannon Watson - actress
• Joy Ballard - Head teacher of the academy from 2015-2024 • Joe Hancott - Former player for Portsmouth F.C. football club.

References

References

1. See [[Education on the Isle of Wight]]
2. "Schools Net information for parents".
3. (21 February 2014). "New sixth form centre opens at Ryde Academy". Yoppul.
4. (15 March 2007). "Secrecy surrounds suspension of headteacher". Southern Daily Echo.
5. (22 May 2011). "Rob set to lead new academy". Isle of Wight County Press.
6. (13 November 2013). "School principal resigns". Isle of Wight County Press.
7. (4 February 2015). "Rory Fox goes. Another Island head to oversee Ryde Academy". On the Wight.
8. (3 September 2015). "Educating Cardiff head Joy Ballard takes over at Ryde Academy". BBC.
9. (2024-07-25). "Headteacher Joy Ballard takes 'step back' from Ryde Academy".
10. (2024-09-10). "Renowned head 'retires' as school launches search for new leader".
11. "Our staff".
12. "Lift Ryde - GOV.UK".
13. link. (9 December 2008 [[DFES]] Standards Site)
14. See 2010 OFSTED inspection Report: https://reports.ofsted.gov.uk/provider/files/2264809/urn/136753
15. "Schools Net".
16. "Schools Net".
17. "Schools Net".
18. "GCSE results issued for the Isle of Wight". [[Isle of Wight Council]].
19. "Compare School Performance".
20. (21 August 2014). "Strong improvements in GCSE results at Ryde Academy". On the Wight.
21. "Troubled Sandown Bay Academy school set for merger".
22. "Isle of Wight GCSE results: Breakdown of results (update 6)". OnTheWight.com.
23. "A Level Results".
24. "OFSTED Ryde Academy".
25. "OFSTED Ryde Academy".
26. (19 December 2016). "Education on the Isle of Wight has 'turned a corner' says Leader". On the Wight.
27. (3 September 2015). "Educating Cardiff head Joy Ballard takes over at Ryde Academy".
28. "Ryde High School".
29. "Ryde Academy".
30. Ryde High School. "Bangladesh Trip".
31. (8 January 2010). "Maligned head did much to turn Ryde around". Isle of Wight County Press.
32. See 2014 Governing Body Annual Budget report
33. (26 June 2014}} See also: {{cite news). "Ryde Academy: skirts too short? Or headmaster too powerful?". The Week.
34. (19 June 2014). "School uniform policies are bad for all students – but especially girls". The Guardian.
35. (26 June 2014). "Ryde Academy: skirts too short? Or headmaster too powerful?". The Week.
36. (20 June 2014). "Parents protest against uniform crackdown". Island Echo.
37. (19 June 2014). "Isolation continues for academy students". Island Echo.
38. (18 June 2014). "Parents remove children from 'prison' school". Island Echo.
39. (3 November 2014). "Teachers 'lazy and aggressive' says Ryde Academy head". Isle of Wight County Press.
40. "Ryde Academy".
41. See [[Sandown Bay Academy]]
42. (9 June 2017). "Governors' shock over academies merger plan". Isle of Wight County Press.
43. (14 June 2017). ""Hand back schools," say Isle of Wight parents". ITV News.
44. (2024-09-05). "PARENTAL UPROAR OVER UNIFORM AND PHONE POLICY CHANGES AT RYDE ACADEMY".
45. (29 April 2013). "Kelly Sotherton: Late starter shifts her sights from chip shops to championships". The Independent.
46. Dyer, Oliver. (30 May 2025). "Island actress to star as Mitford sister in first leading TV role". Isle of Wight County Press.
47. (2023-10-19). "Joe Hancott: 'I'm Pompey's youngest-ever player - but quit football at 20 after falling out of love with it. I hated it'".
48. "Lift Ryde - GOV.UK".