‘Failing school’ head looking to the future (From Ledbury Reporter)

‘Failing school’ head looking to the future

3:00pm Saturday 2nd March 2013 in Ledbury By Gary Bills-Geddes

A HEADTEACHER has come out fighting after a school was deemed to be failing by Government inspectors.

Newent Community School and Sixth Form Centre headteacher Jane Steele said it was not a failing school after Ofsted inspectors put it in special measures.

This can lead to the governing body or headteacher being removed if standards do notimprove.

She said she was “extremely disappointed” at the inspection when she spoke at a meeting held on Monday.

Around 250 parents attended to hear what Mrs Steele had to say about the reportwhich said students who started at the school with below-average attainment were not making enough progress.

It also branded teaching as “inadequate” because it did not meet the needs of lessable and disabled students, Students are not given enough feedback on their progress by teachers, and some lessons are not interesting enough, it added.

Parents heard governors, the headteacher and senior leadership team had worked in recent weeks on developing a robust action plan after the inspection — the first under a new Ofsted system.

Mrs Steele said she was “absolutely adamant” that lessons will be learned to make the school “even stronger” in the future.

She said: “It is important that, whilst the school must acknowledge the main issues of the report, the governors and staff must not lose the focus on the other valuable strengths of the school that take place daily for the benefit of all students.”

Mrs Steele reaffirmed it was a successful school, in her view, and she did not believe that it is "a failing school".

She said: “The report doesn’t acknowledge a lot of our strengths; however, there are areas for improvements and the actions taken and changes made now will clearly demonstrate improved outcomes for students.”

Follow-up meetings will be arranged to ensure that parents and carers are provided with as much information as possible.

The previous Ofsted for the school was in 2010 when the outcome was ‘satisfactory’.