THE woman charged with leading an academy formed of Blackbird Leys’ three primary schools has been described as an outstanding headteacher.

On the eve of Pegasus Primary School’s conversion to academy status, the school was visited by Ofsted and given a good overall rating with an outstanding judgement for leadership and management.

From August 1, the school’s headteacher Jill Hudson will be executive head of the three schools in the Blackbird Academy Trust – Pegasus in Field Avenue, Windale in Windale Avenue and Orchard Meadow in Wesley Close.

The report said: “The inspiring and exemplary leadership of the headteacher and senior leaders ensures that the school offers a wide variety of rich and memorable opportunities for all pupils, regardless of circumstances, so that they have an equal chance of being successful.”

Mrs Hudson, who will be based at Orchard Meadow in the New Year, with her deputy Francis Murphy taking over as head of school at Pegasus, said the school had been taken by surprise by the visit three and a half years after they were last judged good by Ofsted.

She said: “This was genuinely Pegasus as it is, so we are really pleased.

“Some of our children, not all, but many, start with quite low levels of entry but they are fantastic children, some of the brightest children I have ever taught and it is great to have that recognised.”

Provisional results at Pegasus indicate 84 per cent of Year 6 pupils achieved the expected Level 4 in reading, 87 per cent in maths and 83 per cent in writing.

When the schools convert to academy status on August 1, and are sponsored by the Dragon School, Family Links and the Hamilton Trust, they will all effectively become new schools with a clean slate.

Mrs Hudson, who has been headteacher since 1998, said she wanted to see the positive aspects recognised by inspectors reflected across all three schools, and pointed out each of the three had strengths from which they can learn.

She said: “At the heart of this is an absolutely fundamental, deep-seated belief that all of our children can achieve at national levels.

“We are not having any of this ‘we go to schools in difficult areas’. That’s not what we believe.

“These are great children who should be achieving as well as children anywhere in Oxfordshire or the country.”

From September, Donna Roberts, who is currently deputy headteacher at St Andrew’s, Headington, will be head of Orchard Meadow, while Windale acting headteacher Dianne Carbon will carry on as acting head of school.

There are a total of 490 pupils at Pegasus, 335 at Windale and 296 at Orchard Meadow.

Mrs Hudson said she wanted all children at the three schools to be achieving at national levels.

She added: “We are comparing ourselves to the best schools in the country. I am simply not interested in comparisons to schools which are not doing very well.”