[8] The Academy improved and in March 2013 was graded as 'Good' by OFSTED,[9] but by January 2016 it had been given a warning notice by the Department for Education for "unacceptably low standards.

[12] This table shows the proportion of pupils achieving 5 GCSEs A-C (including English and Maths).

He had qualified as a teacher in 2011[21] and led East Point Academy during a period of collapsing exam results, from 41% (5ACEM) to 39% and then to 32%.

[22] Despite threatening to resign if the Academy was taken over by the Inspiration Trust,[23] the takeover went ahead and exam results immediately improved at East Point.

[24] Mr Powell has been cited as being "instrumental in bringing... (his former school East Point Academy) out of special measures,[25] however the OFSTED report for East Point Academy notes that it came out of Special Measures in the year after he left his post there as Principal.

[26] Following the Jan 2016 DfE letter complaining about 'unacceptably low standards' at Unity City Academy[27] Mr Powell resigned and left in April 2016, returning to East Anglia in September 2016 as headteacher of North Walsham High School.

We are totally focussed on ensuring that UCA continues on its present journey to become recognised as a ‘good school’.

For example, it was found that two local schools, one of which was Unity City Academy, had just 1% of pupils achieving the curriculum breadth known as the English Baccalaureate.

[32] Despite the history of falling grades and declining standards OFSTED judged that Unity City Academy was good in 2013.

A similar picture is evident for all key groups of students, including those supported by pupil premium funding and those with additional learning needs"[3] The reality was very different and the UK Department for Education (DfE) had to intervene and contradict OFSTED's judgement.

OFSTED's own reports included examples of excessively optimistic predictions of exam results,[33] and when declaring the academy to be inadequate in 2016 it explicitly contradicts its earlier judgements by stating that the monitoring of teaching was not good enough.

Writing in 2014, Ofsted stated with respect to the Academies Enterprise Trust that:The sponsor works closely with the Principal to ensure that support is proportionate to need and this is well judged.