The news that two local schools, Court Fields Secondary and Wellesley Park Primary, have both been judged by Ofsted inspectors as failing their pupils has generated an understandably strong reaction around the town. Few local residents are immune from the consequences – from parents of youngsters approaching school age to those with school-age children and on to local employers. When schools at the heart of the community fail to deliver the skills, knowledge and values on which we all depend, if not now then in the future, we are all affected in some way.
We can ask ‘How has this happened?’ Is this failure the result of specific events, for example, a poorly timed inspection visit or experienced teachers leaving the schools? Can we blame social factors for a lack of respect for education and those whose job it is to deliver it? Can we blame parents for failing to encourage their children to make full use of 13 years of free education which is the envy of many countries around the globe?
Can we point the finger at parents who choose to opt out of the state system and buy an education for their children, or move to live in a ‘good’ school’s catchment area? Or those who do not regard education as advantageous and by doing so, foster in their children a lack of respect for teachers and schools? Can we blame the government for not putting more money into education, for classes being too large, for buildings crumbling, for a stuttering economy that doesn’t deliver the promise of jobs for school leavers? Can we blame teachers for failing to deliver lessons that encourage pupils to learn and be genuinely interested in learning more?
Whatever we see as the predominant factor in the issue, the outcome is clear: children in this small town at both primary and secondary level are being educationally disadvantaged. They are failing to learn at the same pace as their peers in thriving schools and their immediate and longer term prospects are damaged accordingly. And teachers, school governors, parents, grandparents, society – even pupils themselves – must face up to the problem if it is to be overcome.
Where do we begin? Arguably, by doing something ourselves and not waiting for someone else, somewhere else to take action. This means parents sending their children to school with positive attitudes, encouraging them to take advantage of education and its possibilities. This is the foundation of ‘good’ schools, where parents take an active interest in what is happening inside the school gate. It means Headteachers taking action. Schools need resourceful, energetic, dynamic individuals who care deeply about learning – and children – and who provide encouragement and opportunity.
They set standards for both staff and pupils and ensure that they are met – and take immediate action when they are not rather than look for excuses. It means teachers looking hard at themselves, their own practices and learning strategies, the way they encourage learning and motivate pupils to be active learners. It means governors knowing a great deal more about how schools work and what is needed to make them thrive. Pupils in classrooms should look at themselves too. Do they communicate disaffection, disregard, tolerance of disruption in the classroom – or do they set higher standards for one another?
Inadequate schools can be turned around. They can become successful and a source of pride in the community so all is not lost – yet. If a cohort of young people in the town is to avoid entering adulthood under-educated, under-equipped to play an active part in society, resentful, alienated – and if the cycle is not to be repeated when they themselves become parents – action is urgently needed, from us all. It is a collective responsibility.
Gill Paltridge
Gill is a former Head of English and a Deputy Head who has worked in both state and independent schools
Ofsted has become a blunt tool, wielded by the Government to force schools to convert to academies. Inspections aren’t done by HMI, but out-sourced to companies who appear to keep no track of the background of their inspectors and cannot even say which ones have Qualified Teacher status. It is run by a man who daily seeks to insult, bully and demoralise the teaching profession, and overseen by a minister who requires ALL schools to be ABOVE average!
Court Fields IS not failing, but like any school is subject to cyclical variations in exam results, and in a year where the Government actively intervened to suppress GCSE achievement, is one of many victims of the political imperative to destroy Local Education Authorities.
Since the school has already turned around the main issue (Maths achievement) with a set of excellent results – will the report be withdrawn? Of course not. Presumably the new academy sponsors will take the credit (and for everything else that the school goes on to achieve.)
However, do carry on with knocking the school, and selectively moderating comments on your posts.
@ aesop rock;
<q cite" It is run by a man who daily seeks to insult, bully and demoralise the teaching profession, and overseen by a minister who requires ALL schools to be ABOVE avera
Whilst you cannot have the state of 'all schools to be above average' (it's an oxymoron) and as much as the teaching profession bemoans Mr. Gove and his policies, the school under the present leadership did not reach "average" which can be seen to be the minimum requirement as laid out by his (Mr.Gove's ) objectives to all schools.
To the Schools credit there is small reference in the report which states that a new member of staff hasn't had time to fully implement their plan hence no effect yet and that other problematic areas have been addressed. The assessment has been made and the report written.
The report is much like a M.O.T. test really. It is a report stating how effective the school was at teaching as inspected on that one day. You can't pass a car instead of failing it on it's M.O.T. just because all of the defects might be rectified in a few months time and it might be alright then.
The senior leaders in the School along with the Governors must act swiftly and with appropriate conviction make the rectification now. A new plan must be decided upon and followed straight away else more harm might be done. A change must come about which will enthuse everyone involved from the Teachers right through to the pupils and their parents.
The parents of the pupils along with the pupils and the whole community (the school is in-titled with the tag "Community School") are within right to demand that they hear about plans which will turn the school around.
You have made reference to
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@ aesop rock;
I quote ” It is run by a man who daily seeks to insult, bully and demoralise the teaching profession, and overseen by a minister who requires ALL schools to be ABOVE average”
Whilst you cannot have the state of ‘all schools to be above average’ (it’s an oxymoron) and as much as the teaching profession bemoans Mr. Gove and his policies, the school under the present leadership did not reach “average” which can be seen to be the minimum requirement as laid out by his (Mr.Gove’s ) objectives to all schools.
To the Schools credit there is small reference in the report which states that a new member of staff hasn’t had time to fully implement their plan hence no effect yet and that other problematic areas have been addressed. The assessment has been made and the report written.
The report is much like a M.O.T. test really. It is a report stating how effective the school was at teaching as inspected on that one day. You can’t pass a car instead of failing it on it’s M.O.T. just because all of the defects might be rectified in a few months time and it might be alright then.
The senior leaders in the School along with the Governors must act swiftly and with appropriate conviction make the rectification now. A new plan must be decided upon and followed straight away else more harm might be done. A change must come about which will enthuse everyone involved from the Teachers right through to the pupils and their parents.
The parents of the pupils along with the pupils and the whole community (the school is in-titled with the tag “Community School”) are within right to demand that they hear about plans which will turn the school around.
You have also made reference to quote ” in a year where the Government actively intervened to suppress GCSE achievement,” yes you might be right but this had an effect on every school across the country and not just Court Fields. How many other schools have found their inspections results have been knocked down because of this?
Ofsted is an independent body which employs expert educationalists. It is ridiculous to challenge its credentials in this way. Court Fields has not failed because of its exam results but because it has failed across the board – in attainment, teaching, behaviour and safety and management, while Wellesley Park requires improvement across the board. The reports are here, you can see for yourself
http://www.ofsted.gov.uk/provider/files/2160811/urn/123677.pdf
http://www.ofsted.gov.uk/provider/files/2161543/urn/123885.pdf
Rather than sit here wringing our hands about the poor teaching profession being bullied by Ofsted the leaders of these schools need to get a grip, run the schools effectively and deliver high quality teaching. The children of Wellington deserve no less.
“courtfields is not a failing school”?
The exam results have been declining at the school for around a decade, the school used to be competing on par with the local esteemed private school and was championed by that fact under the former head, Mr hicks.
so aesop rock please post your non-constructive populist nonsense elsewhere
Even the “maths achievement” you claim is still well below a national average.
Many schools in the local area manage very well the local funding. so we can all sit around drinking tea wandering what ifs, and whom, blaming society today etc etc
Meanwhile the children of Wellington wallow in the mire slowly watching their future disappear down the drain. and of course this is a concern for the whole town.
Time for a new refreshing direction for the school someone needs to step up, provide Strong leadership for the school. something its sorely lacked of late, rather than sweeping it under the carpet. all that’s come from the head so far is excuses. what the children need is solutions not problems.
@Big Ed hmm , my neighbour was an Ofsted inspector. She was a hairdresser who had never worked in a school. Still, I’m guessing you wouldn’t disagree with the Daily Telegraph? http://www.telegraph.co.uk/education/educationnews/9413309/Ofsted-school-inspectors-not-qualified.html
@ Johnathan Would you care to provide some actual evidence that achievement at the school has been falling for about a decade? Equally, your assertion that the November GCSE Maths results are not 10% higher than the national average for the exam. Or is it just your “populist” opinion?
Your comments demean the great majority of students who leave with the results they need to move on to secondary school and the significant minority who achieve outstanding results each year. (unless there’s some conspiracy at work and the results, reported each year in the local paper are made up)
No one is claiming the school is perfect, nor even that a change in management might be a good idea. Things are just not as bad as claimed in the report and I for one am persuaded that Ofsted is far from the organisation it used to be.
Aesop. I’m not sure what the article you quote proves.
Ofsted inspectors inspect a number of issues. Those looking at teaching will be former teachers and those looking at the quality of management will have had experience of education management. Those looking at welfare and safety will have experience in those areas. So, no, I wouldn’t expect all Ofsted inspectors to be teachers – only those who are looking at the effectiveness of teaching.
Also, if you want to talk about the blunt-edge measure of success that the performance tables are, English aside, the school has been ‘achieving’ lower standards than the national and local authority averages in each of the last 4 years and it is currently below the national floor target in maths. This isn’t a blip; the school has continuously underachieved.
http://www.education.gov.uk/cgi-bin/schools/performance/group.pl?qtype=LA&no=933&superview=sec
Schools with far more challenging cohorts than Court Fields, but with strong leadership, consistently provide their children with far better outcomes than Court Fields. Hopefully the governing body and senior management team take positive action quickly to turn the school around – otherwise it will be taken over by an Academy chain.
I’m an ex-pupil of Court Fields and I’ve read their Ofstead report and the various press articles on the school. It’s not good.
I’m now a parent governor at my own children’s school and also their schools Responsible Officer. This has given me a good insight to how a school operates. A couple of points from me would be;
The overall governance of the school is very weak (although the report hints that it is improving) however the weakness must have been there for a very long time. To let the Head go to another school temporarily must have been approved by the Governors but were they confident that the school would be able to be run well in the Head’s absence? Also the Governors must have been made aware of the demise in the standards of results and should have insisted and agreed a school improvement plan long before the inspection. The Head along with the Governing body is very keen to knock the report in my opinion and if I were a member of the Governing body I would have been asking for an explanation as to how it could be turned around. It’s all very well stating that the inspectors were not interesting in seeing something that had previously been judged good – why should they? They had observed and reported on those matters before and were wanting to see something not previously seen or judged. That is the right thing to do.
A senior member of staff leaving and taking 8 other members of staff with them is devastating for the school however the question must be asked why this was allowed to happen and how did this come about. What was going wrong at the school which made these staff decided to leave en mass? Was there dissent in the ranks and unhappiness and a foresight into the future? “Rats leaving a sinking ship” is an expression which comes to mind which is yet again something that a good Governing body should have picked up on at the time.
It’s a shame to see my old school damned in this report but the Head is the Captain who is expected along with her Lieutenants of Governors and Senior members of staff to lead the School for the benefit of the pupils and town into great things by achieving the targets set out by the Government. That is their objective. They have been judged to have failed. Time to have a re-think on their position and maybe they should consider passing the helm over to a new commander who can lead them out from the doldrums.
It is a shame that the author of this piece has decided to suggest that all primary school children are disadvantaged in the area too. Does this person know that there are several Primary Schools in Wellington, several of which are delivering standards considered to be GOOD by Ofste?. If you don’t understand Wellington, don’t comment on it.
@ BigEd
Agreed, but the LA data appears to include a high proportion of selective schools so its not a valid comparison is it? As for the Maths results – the latest figures show a marked improvement and the students all have another chance again this summer, so the school expectation of 65% doesn’t seem unrealistic does it?
I’m happy to be corrected.