OAKMEEDS OFSTED: “Inadequate” - Head lists key areas where improvement needed

After an inspection in January the schools inspectorate has published its report which states the school is Inadequate for Achievement of Pupils; Inadequate for Quality of Teaching; and Inadequate for Leadership and Management.

In today’s Mid Sussex Times we reveal that the chair of governors has tended his resignation while the head Colin Taylor, 59, is understood to be devastated by the damning report.

Mr Taylor has listed three key ‘improvement areas’ in correspondence to parents.

Improvement area 1 (linked to Key Issue 1 from the report)

We will:

• Rapidly improve the quality of teaching, especially in mathematics.

• Raise teachers expectations of what students can achieve and in turn raise the aspirations of our students as to what they can achieve in the future

• Ensure that the College feedback (marking) policy is implemented consistently

• Provide training opportunities to:

• ensure that teachers fully understand the principles used in the College target setting process

• ensure that teachers fully demonstrate in the classroom their understanding of good and outstanding lessons and what is meant by challenge

• ensure that teachers ask probing questions in lessons to check progress more often

• ensure that teachers use appropriate data to set work at the correct level for the stu-dents they teach

• Use external support to help the mathematics subject team address identified issues

Improvement area 2 (linked to Key Issue 2 from the report):

Raise standards and improve the progress of all groups of students in a range of subjects, particularly English, mathematics and science.

We will:

• Establish new management structures to monitor the work of teachers more closely and rigorously

• Use data on students to plan lessons more accurately and according to students ability levels

• Provide training opportunities to:

• develop teachers knowledge as to how best to use the information they have about the progress of the students in planning for and teaching their classes

Improvement area 3 (linked to Key Issue 3 from the report):

Improve the effectiveness of leadership, management and governance.

We will:

• Ensure that all aspects of the school’s arrangements for safeguarding students meet best practice and statutory requirements at all times

• Establish a new formal accountability structure for the College, with regular reporting on the quality of teaching and learning, progress and achievement to the Governing Body

• Ensure that leaders at all levels have a more accurate view of the performance of the College through a full understanding of the internal and external data sources available

• Provide additional training for teachers and leaders on lesson observations based upon the latest Ofsted criteria (revised January 2014)

• Establish clear progress measure targets based upon agreed principles for all year groups

• Ensure that pupil premium funding is used effectively to accelerate the progress of eligible students and narrow the attainment gaps

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