Free schools, like academies do not have to employ qualified teachers. All secondary schools in Doncaster are academies, and we have the same statutory requirements.

However, we have as high expectations of our staff as we do our students, and our expectation is that all our teachers engage in masters level professional development.

We have not employed an unqualified teacher in our first three years, but if we ever do, they would have had to have demonstrated outstanding practice, and would immediately be placed on a professional development programme to become a qualified teacher.

One of our founders, Gwyn ap Harri, was first employed as an unqualified teacher at Hatfield High School (now, Ash Hill Academy) in 2000, and qualified to Headship level (NPQH) in 2011.

We are proud to say that Mrs Chappell started with XP as a Learning Coach in 2014, and is now an NQT Physics teacher in 2016.