NESTLED on one of the most deprived streets in the region is a school aiming to be one of the country's best.
Archbishop Sentamu Academy sits proudly in Preston Road, serving the east Hull community.
Just five years ago it was among the worst in the country for GCSE results.
Now, despite having the highest number of disadvantaged children of any other school in Yorkshire, pupils achieve higher than the national average.
It has been named the second most improved in Yorkshire and the 39th most improved school in the country.
The school, previously in Hopewell Road and called Archbishop Thurstan, was old and no longer fit for purpose.
Results were poor and families on the estate it served wanted their children to go elsewhere.
It was not the school of choice.
But under the city's £400m Building Schools for the Future (BSF) scheme, everything changed.
It became an academy and a £33m new purpose-built home was created in Preston Road.
Results rose and rose.
Last summer, pupils celebrated as 60 per cent hit the Government's gold standard of five A* to C grades, including English and maths.
Parents now want to send their children to Archbishop Sentamu.
Andrew Chubb, principal at the academy, says being named one of the most improved schools in the country is a great honour for the school.
"It is the most important school accolade because they calculate it by the improvements made in the five A* to C grades including English and maths, over a five-year period," he said.
"The most important thing for us was to establish the ethos of the academy.
"It is based in Christian principles.
"Every child is equally valued and going forward together.
"The school goes forward together, or it doesn't go forward at all."
Mr Chubb says staff and pupils have worked hard to drive standards up and says there are key principals which they uphold.
"There are a lot of challenges but there is a lot of support," he said.
"We have high standards of behaviour, uniform and courtesy.
"What you then get to do is make a huge improvement in the quality of teaching and learning.
"And that is not just about when inspectors are in, but how good are our staff when no one is looking!
"We have rigorous quality assessments to analyse the quality of learning."
The school also rigorously checks pupils' work books to make sure they are on track.
"We set them high targets," said Mr Chubb.
"The targets we set them assume they are all going to make good or outstanding progress. Our expectations are high and we raise the bar high. If then they drop a bit they have still done very well.
"We also have support in place to make sure those who are not achieving their targets get the help they need to do so."
The 1,450-place school has proved hugely popular since it opened as an academy in 2008.
It was one of the first to open under BSF.
A Church Of England Academy, it is sponsored by the Diocese of York.
It remains very much a community school, taking the children from the surrounding area.
It is also bucking the national trend that children in deprived areas do not achieve as well as those in more affluent areas.
"It is a school which delivers," said Mr Chubb.
"We provide a really good quality of education and the local parents see that. They are entrusting us to deliver for their children.
"The vision for this academy has always been a local school for local children.
"We don't select. Our aim is to be as inclusive as possible."
Making sure every child has the same opportunities to learn is one of the abiding principle's of the academy.
Since opening, there has been just one permanent exclusion.
It is something Mr Chubb is adamant he does not want to do.
"We don't put up with the bad behaviour," he said.
"But we don't exclude. We find alternative ways of engaging the children.
"There are all sorts of ways and we find a way to keep children in mainstream education.
"It is terrible if a child gets permanently excluded on their record.
"You are basically writing that child off. Whatever they have done, they are just children."
Mr Chubb says although he has this inclusive approach, the academy never compromises on behaviour.
Looking to the future, the aim is clear – carry on improving results and educational outcomes for the children of east Hull.
