IT would be easy to write a “damning” report on Chafford Hundred primary school’s recent Ofsted report which highlighted every criticism of the “satisfactory” report.
The new Labour administration were clearly hoping that it would sneak under the radar, as in a long debate at full council on the school on wednesday, there was no mention of it at all.
But we are conscious that with Key Stage 2 results at 149/151 in the country, you have to ask yourself: are you part of the problem or part of the solution?
Three years ago, the school received a “good’ Ofsted, where it appeared that the school was on the verge of being outstanding. But a number of problems since then which caused eight of the governors to resign has seen the school spiral into decline.
This week, the school has received a Satisfactory/3 grading, which is well below what should be expected for a school such as Chafford Hundred primary but:
a. It could have been a lot worse
b. The school now seems to be moving forward as opposed to in decline.
Of course, it could be that the governors were part of the problem or that their issues were to do with the political and economic running of the school and not educational matters.
Indeed since cllr Tunde Ojetola took over as Chair of Governors that his deft and diplomatic touch has seen the school improve.
If there is a theme to the Ofsted report it is that: “Long is the way and hard that leads up to light.”
The report is keen to stress that there is a multitude of positive features about the school and gives an overall feel that the school is steadily dragging itself out of a very large ravine.
The report makes the following observations:
1.Community Cohesion
Chafford Hundred has the fastest growing black middle class in the United Kingdom but Ofsted noted that:
“A start has been made on developing pupils’ awareness of the multi-cultural make-up of the United Kingdom and that in the wider world but there is more still to do”
2. Discipline problems
The report hinted at the discipline problems that prompted several governors to resign stating that “Behaviour is now good”
3. Pupils Confused
However, there are still examples where the focus of what pupils are expected to learn is confused with the activity itself. This leads to pupils not always being clear about what it is they are learning or how they can improve.
Attainment by the end of Year 6 has shown a declining trend in all subjects over the past three years.
Pupils’ work and school assessments show that the current Year 6, in spite of high numbers of pupils having significant barriers to learning, is making at least expected progress.
4. Parental Concerns
“A small minority expressed concerns about the number of staff changes over the last couple of years, the significant increase in numbers of pupils and subsequent loss of space.
“Parents also indicated concerns about behaviour, bullying and leadership of the school. Inspectors spoke to many parents on both days of the inspection, the majority of whom were very supportive of the school and its leadership. Staffing is now more stable, although inspectors have identified the need to improve the leadership skills of a minority of staff.
Space
On wednesday night, Portfolio Holder, cllr Diana Hale accepted that they couldn’t allow the lack of school places to continue.
She said: “I do recognise that we may have to sell surplus land at other schools to fund this, but I do think that we need to deal with the short-term problems that we face every september first.”
It is clear that with rolls falling in the east of the borough and Chafford Hundred and Grays requiring over a 1000 extra places in the next five years, that a number of schools in the east will be “re-structured”.
Conclusion
This takes us back to another C Grade Ofsted report. There have only been 2 B/Goods in 18 months.This matched with Key Stage 2 results putting Thurrock 149/151 in the country illustrates a real crisis.
What it may take is a Mary Queen of Shops approach. No, not Mary Portas (although wouldn’t that be interesting) but perhaps a ruthless outsider, who would cut to the chase and tell each and every school what they need to do to crack Ofsted.
Some say, that the Thurrock schools, with regards to Ofsted are between a rock and a hard place and due to a number of factors, cannot do more than a 3.
Well, how come Mark Jones at Stifford and now Interim at Thameside can do it? Look at the results, the team at Kenningtons are getting.
Gable Hall supremo retires in January. He would be perfect and so you suspect that for that very reason, he will never ever be asked…..
