Just 11 months after being rated Inadequate by Ofsted, Acting Head Rachael Bennett reports that Court Fields school has come out of Special Measures ,in a record time for any Somerset school to have managed for this transition back to normality.
“We are absolutely delighted that, during a routine monitoring visit by Her Majesty’s Inspectors last week, sufficient progress was noted to trigger a full Section 5 Ofsted inspection,” Ms Bennett reported to parents.
“It is the judgement of the inspectors that Court Fields Community School no longer requires special measures. This is a significant event in the life of the school and is a vindication of our and your efforts since November 2012.
“Whilst there is still much work to be done to achieve a ‘good’ judgment we are incredibly pleased that inspectors recognised that the Leadership of our school at all levels is now good and will continue to drive the school forward on our journey to be rated Outstanding,”contined Ms Bennett.
Ofsted highlighted leadership and management of the Court Fields as “Good” but said the teaching of subjects was not consistently good. It also highlighted a previous gap in standards between students eligible for free school meals and others has now closed considerably. The Ofsted report also singled out support from Somerset County Council which has contributed to improvements in maths, science, music and leadership.
However, the Ofsted report also said further improvements are needed. Court Fields school is focusing on the quality of the teaching whilst taking their recommendations forward.
“We accept the Ofsted report in full and this is a big step for us as we move towards becoming an academy,” said Ms Bennett. “We will work even harder to bring about the further improvements needed.”
Such good news after the absolute disaster of the previous regime. It just goes to show what good leadership does. Now on to the next stage.