Highbridge’s King Alfred School has been a dealt a blow with a new Ofsted inspection report that rates it as ‘inadequate’.
The report – which was sent to parents of the school’s pupils on Thursday (June 22nd) – rates five areas as ‘inadequate’ and one area as ‘requiring improvement’.
Ofsted has rated the following as ‘inadequate’: overall effectiveness; the effectiveness of leadership and management; the quality of teaching, learning and assessment; personal development, behaviour and welfare; and outcomes for pupils.
It adds that the school’s 16-to-19 study programmes ‘require improvement’.
The report states: “For several years, GCSE exam results have been poor, including in English and maths. Leaders have not tackled these issues with sufficient urgency and have failed to halt the decline in standards.”
“Leaders do not accurately monitor and evaluate the school’s work. This has limited the effectiveness of actions taken to improve pupils’ behaviour and the quality of teaching.”
“Pupils, including the most able and those who have special educational needs and/or disabilities, do not make the progress of which they are capable. Teachers do not have sufficiently high expectations of what pupils can achieve.”
The report adds: “Teachers do not use information about what pupils already know and can do to plan effectively for the next steps of pupils’ learning.”
“Provision for pupils’ personal development lacks attention to some aspects of risk that they may face in society.”
“Governors are not well informed about the school’s work and the progress pupils make. They have not challenged the school’s leaders to make the rapid improvements required.” reports Burnham-On-Sea.com
The Ofsted report continues: “Leaders’ strategies to ensure that disadvantaged pupils catch up quickly have not worked.”
“Behaviour is inadequate, as evidenced by too many instances of low-level disruption in classrooms and by the lack of pride many pupils show in their work.”
“The attendance of pupils overall is too low, particularly for disadvantaged pupils and those who have special educational needs. Leaders actions to resolve these issues have not resulted in sufficient improvement.”
“The quality of careers guidance in Years 7 to 11 is poor. Many pupils do not have the knowledge or understanding to make informed choices about their futures.”
The report also highlights several strengths. “The recent changes to curriculum and teaching are beginning to make a positive impact on the progress that pupils make in key stage 3.”
It adds that: “Students in the sixth form show good attitudes towards their studies. The proportion of students who carry on to undergraduate study is high.”
The previous inspection by Ofsted rated the school as ‘good’, demonstrating that the inspectors believe there has been a decline in its overall effectiveness.
The inspection was carried out between April 26-27 this year.
Burnham-On-Sea.com has invited the school to comment and the head teacher’s comments are reported here.
