Ofsted’s dismal verdict on Court Fields has attracted more comment to Around Wellington than any story since the website launched last summer. Here are the ones received so far. There has been no selection by the Editor to create either a favourable or an unfavourable view.
Michelle Liggett Terrible but as we only have one school in Welly, we have no choice but to hope they sort it out quickly and efficiently.
Ruth Hartley which is why I’ll be moving to Taunton when the time comes!!!
Rosie Newman Not surprised, Court Fields is a joke!
Sarah Stuart Omg…
Sammijo Edwards Failed loads of kids, my Boo will not be going there
Sandy Jarman Most schools bounce back from dreadful Ofsted reports and come out on top with a change of head teacher!! I’m lucky to have 9 yrs before I choose where my ladies go…
Lorraine Pocock My sentiments too Sandy…
Toby Edwards It’s been forced down-rated along with many others so Somerset LEA can push through the Academy program… which is basically turning the schools to run as a business and tendered out to the cheapest operators. Saw this coming a mile off.
Toby Edwards Oh and its easy to blame the school for failing the children… It’s a little closer to home where things start.
Louisa Hill Anyone surprised?
Steve Pacey Toby’s right, it’s a sneaky way of privatising the schools. As if teachers need any more shit from the government.
Gemma Colquhoun The children that go to Court Fields are no different to the children going to Kingsmead, which got an ‘Outstanding’ in their last Ofsted. Does that mean all those kids come from better families then!!!!!!! Don’t think so.
Tracey Marsh the teachers work hard, its the leadership! Well said Gemma!! There are some fantastic kids, teachers and support teams in that school, just need the right leadership and guidance to secure our children’s futures!
There was also response to Head teacher Elaine Faull’s response to the Ofsted report: https://www.aroundwellington.co.uk/head-hits-back-at-unfair-ofsted/
Alex Hodges She would say that…
Tracey Marsh Speechless, take some ownership! How can it be that in just one term of her absence the school lost its way. The old saying is “the sign of a great leader is how their team performs in their absence”. Mrs Faull, has failed to accept responsibility for the damage she has done to our school, does the report not state that many of the children enter with good performance ratings from their junior schools only to be rated as under-performing after two years in her hands!!! However, it should also be noted that the governing board also have to take responsibility for their lack of action to stop the rot and protect our children!! Although I currently do not have a child at the school, I went to Court Fields many years ago, as have all of my siblings, friends and many other family members and have always had a sense of pride in my old school. I have even returned after 12 years away from Wellington so that my own children may in the future be schooled there, so lets hope with the additional support that this will now ensure the school gets a change of head, and the leadership the school, its hard-working teachers, support team and children deserve!
The last thing we need is for people to jump on the bandwagon and condemn the school purely on the basis of what is reported in the local newspaper. We need cool heads in this situation in order to consider the implications of the report. As residents of Wellington, and parents or ex- parents we all have an interest and even a responsibility to ensure the best education available. I feel that a good place to start is to consider the way in which Ofsted inspected the school and the implications this had for the subsequent report. I must say I have some sympathy with Mrs Faull here when she points out that the inspectors clearly came with an agenda and did not seem to want to see evidence of the good things being accomplished at the school. Mrs Faull points out that she is aware of the need for continual improvement and I believe that the staff need the time and support to do this.
I feel we all need to rally around and support the school rather than playing Ofsted’s game for them.
Just to be perfectly clear, the main bone of contention in the Ofsted report was the GCSE results, especially in Maths and pretty much most of the other negative findings are linked.
Hard then to square the findings of the report with the fact that this month the Year 11 students achieved Maths grades that are already 10% ABOVE the national average with another chance to retake in the summer. These improvements were achieved long before the latest inspection by a school aware of it’s weaknesses and actively trying to improve.
The school is not perfect but believe me on this – there’s very little difference in reality between schools. My own child has just finished in a local “outstanding school” She spent much of the time copying off the board, and felt intimidated by some very unpleasant individual teachers.
Court Fields needs the support of the local community. Becoming an Academy is NO guarantee of improvements – in fact the data shows that state schools outperform academies. There are some brilliant teachers at Court Fields teaching wonderful young people. The school is nothing like as bad as claimed in the report – and anyone who doubts this only has to visit the school during the day and see for themselves.
No, the main bone of contention was poor teaching (apart from in English and some History and IT classes) and poor leadership. Only effective leadership can turn the school around.
http://www.ofsted.gov.uk/provider/files/2161543/urn/123885.pdf
The report is only 10 pages long. Read it.