A welcome from the Principal

I would like to take this opportunity to welcome you to Netherwood Academy. I took the helm here at the beginning of September 2020 after almost 10 years Headship experience in two schools elsewhere in Yorkshire, and I am committed, alongside my staff team, to doing everything in my power to ensure Netherwood is the school of choice for all secondary-age students in the wider community.

We have ambitious plans to take the school further on its journey to “inspiring beyond measure”, backed by Astrea, a forward-looking and values-driven trust which operates a large number of primary and secondary schools throughout South Yorkshire and Cambridgeshire.

My personal ambitions for Netherwood are very straightforward – to provide an excellent all-round education for every student, whatever their background, and inspire them to be ambitious for themselves, both academically and socially, so that they go out into the wider world as responsible citizens, fully-equipped for what life has to offer. This will include a commitment from us, as staff, to broadening students’ general cultural awareness, and we aim to do this through high expectations and an unapologetic focus on students doing the right thing day-in, day-out. We believe this will make all of our classrooms and corridors disruption-free, enabling teachers to teach high-quality lessons and students to learn and thrive every day.

Our facilities are modern and extensive, and we have worked hard to ensure curriculum areas and extra-curricular activities are well-resourced and accessible to everyone. We have dedicated, state-of-the-art spaces for indoor and outdoor Physical Education, as well as the Visual and Performing Arts, including Music, Drama and Dance.

More and more families from the local area are choosing Netherwood for their children than ever before, and staff at the school have the confidence to send their own children here, in greater numbers than we have ever seen – this is testament to the rapid improvements we have made over the past two years, and which we continue to make.

Our recent Ofsted visit in March 2024 confirmed our own view that we are a “Good” school, for the first time in the school’s history; this is testament to the hard work of staff, students and the community over recent years.  Our ambition is to ensure that all students continue to thrive and for Netherwood to reach new heights over the coming years.

Our academy is a bright and vibrant community, where children sit at the very heart of everything we do. I very much hope it is a community you would like to be part of.

Best wishes

Mr J Mitchell