Ofsted inspectors have visited Highbridge’s King Alfred School and given positive feedback about a series of improvements that are underway.
The report comes less than a year after Andy Owen, the new head teacher, took up his post.
The Ofsted report finds him and his new Senior Leadership Team to be “the driving force” behind recent improvements.
The report goes on to say “they have taken decisive action to improve provision, raise expectations and iron out some of the inconsistencies in the quality of teaching.”
Inspectors say they are confident that school leaders know exactly what needs to be done and have set out a clear way forward.
Both staff and governors recognise the challenge of driving forward, but inspectors believe “there is a strong sense of shared purpose and teamwork which, given all that has already been achieved, indicates that the school has a good capacity to improve further.” The report says “much remains to be done, but the school is moving decisively in the right direction.’
In addition to the written report the inspection team also provided verbal feedback on their findings.
Mr Owen told Burnham-On-Sea.com: “I am delighted with the feedback that we were given regarding our students. The inspectors described the behaviour of our students as very good with no incidents of inappropriate behaviour either in lessons or around the site.”
“This is a huge improvement on our previous inspection reports where disruption and bullying were raised as concerns. The inspectors went on to describe our students as “perfect ambassadors for the school” which is a fantastic accolade.”
Mr Owen also added: “I am also delighted with some of the comments made by the inspection team about our staff, for example, “passionate about making things better”, “very positive and determined to make the school better and more effective” and “highly committed”.
“The report refers to improving standards across the school most notably in Year 11 and the VIth Form. Our relentless focus on academic rigour is showing “secure signs of improvement” and we are unapologetic that as a school we will be persistent and consistent in our drive to continue to raise standards.”
“With sustained hard work our Year 11 are on track to exceed our target of 57% of students obtaining 5 or more GCSE passes at C grade or above including English and mathematics.”
“In fact, we are hoping to exceed 60% which will place us in the top 25% of schools nationally for progress. Recent modular results in Year 12 and 13 are also encouraging and we are hoping for our best set of post-16 results in the school’s history this summer.”
