9th November 2016
Dear Parents
Re: Ofsted Report
It seems so long ago now that Ofsted visited our school (20/9/16) but I finally have the pleasure of being able to share with you their judgement that we continue to be a ‘Good’ school.
We are extremely appreciative of the response to ParentView (with over 70 responses within 24 hours). The overwhelmingly positive responses were acknowledged by the Ofsted team, commenting that parents felt fortunate to have such a school locally.
Overall we are really pleased at how the letter reads and the judgements reached. Ofsted were very fair in their assessment but also were reassured that our Senior Leadership Team and all the staff knew which areas we had identified to improve and that plans were already in place to do so. Here are some of the key highlights from the report:
- Parents, staff and pupils are overwhelmingly supportive of the work that you do in helping pupils to achieve their best and to promote their well-being.
- This is a school where pupils typically behave well and value their education as well as appreciating their teachers’ efforts.
- Pupils’ outcomes over time are good. By the time pupils leave the school in Year 8, they make good progress in a range of subjects from their starting points.
- The culture of safeguarding is strong at the school. Pupils feel safe in the school and the pastoral aspect of school life is a highly positive feature of the school.
- The quality of teaching in the school is good overall.
- Pupils’ positive attitudes in lessons allow them to enjoy their learning.
- The Senior Leadership Team have a wide range of important skills and complementary strengths.
- The school develops pupils well as all-rounded individuals and provides them with a range of activities to develop their confidence and self-esteem.
- Governors have an accurate understanding of the school’s strengths and weaknesses.
The school have already incorporated a lot of the recommendations into our development plan. As a result our whole school priorities are to ensure greater challenge within lessons as well improved communication with all stakeholders. The progress of those with special educational needs was highlighted as a strength in the report and the appointment of the new SENCo is evident in continuing to develop this provision.
The inspectors’ focus on Key Stage 2 Maths is an area that we disagreed with somewhat, as their opinion was strongly based on our pupils’ progress from key stage 1 to key stage 2. We feel that this is an unfair judgement, as we believe the best measure of middle school progress is from entry in Year 5 to exit in Year 8. The inspectors commented that ‘by the time pupils reached the end of Year 8 they had achieved well’. We knew we were a good school and this inspection and report confirms that, as well as endorsing the direction that the school is moving towards. We will continue to work hard to maintain and improve the already high standards in the school across academic, pastoral and extra-curricular areas for the benefit of all pupils.
The letter received from the Lead Inspector outlining his findings and recommendations for our continued development is available below.
Many thanks for your continued support.
Yours faithfully
Mr D Spong Mrs J Tye
Headteacher Chair of Board of Directors
Please click on the link below to read the letter from Ofsted regarding our September 2016 inspection.
