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A secondary school in Swansea has been placed in special measures following a critical inspection earlier this year. Daniel James Community School was found to be performing “significantly less well” in English, maths and science compared to similar schools. Inspectors raised concerns over the school’s leadership and management and the effectiveness of teaching. Swansea council has installed a new management team after the head teacher and his deputy retired last week. The school in Treboeth, which has just over 600 pupils between the ages of 11 and 16, was visited by Estyn inspectors in the first four days in February. Inspectors found standards had fallen since they last visited the school and “lessons which had good and outstanding features are significantly below the averages for Wales in 2008-2009.” As well as English, maths and science they also raised concerns about the teaching of Welsh as a second language. The percentage of pupils at the school entered for GCSEs was significantly less than the average for Wales and pass rates at five or more grades A*-C were significantly below local and national averages. The report states: “There are important shortcomings in the quality of leadership and management across the school.” Head teacher Paul Smith and his deputy Eddie Gracia retired before the Easter break. Swansea council said it had appointed a new management board “to provide advice and management support to the governors and staff at the school.” It consists of two head teachers, a deputy head teacher and experts in education and finance. The council’s education director Richard Parry said: “It is extremely disappointing for everyone that the Estyn inspection has resulted in the school being placed in special measures. Act quickly “We have taken a number of actions to help address the shortcomings identified by the inspectors and to provide the school with extra support in order to make the necessary improvements.” Council leader Chris Holley said: “We want every pupil at Daniel James to be able to reach their potential and it is vital that everything is done to ensure the pupils and staff have the support they need to achieve this. “I am pleased that the director has acted quickly to address issues highlighted by the inspectors. “The management board has the necessary expertise and experience to support the staff and governors to take the school forward in the interests of the pupils.” Chair of governors Ceinwen Thomas said, “We are all very disappointed with the outcome of the report and we must give the staff, pupils and governors the support they need so that improvements can be made. “We must build on the positive aspects highlighted by the inspectors, whilst also addressing the shortcomings as a matter of priority. “The pupils are uppermost in our minds and I want to reassure parents we will give pupils the education and support they deserve and continue to develop a school that the whole community can be proud of.” This article is from the BBC News website . © British Broadcasting Corporation, The BBC is not responsible for the content of external internet sites.
April 7, 2010 | Posted in
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More schools are being judged inadequate under a new inspection regime, figures from England’s schools watchdog Ofsted show. Half of the 2140 schools inspected in the autumn were found to be either satisfactory or inadequate. The proportion of schools classed as inadequate has more than doubled to 10% , compared with 4% in the 2008/2009 inspection period. Schools now have to achieve higher results to be good or outstanding. The watchdog has insisted its new-style inspections would “raise the bar” on its expectations of schools. Only 9% of schools have been given the top rating of outstanding – compared with 19% of those inspected in the academic year of 2008/9. A total of 40% of the schools inspected were marked down as satisfactory. A spokesman for Ofsted has said: “We have made it clear that every time an inspection framework is revised, expectations are raised too.” But John Dunford, general secretary of the Association of School and College Leaders, told BBC News: “I don’t think it [Ofsted] is serving parents very well in the comparative views it is providing.” Opinion divided Chris Richardson, head teacher at the Kings of Wessex School in Somerset, said the new inspection framework brought “significant improvements”, particularly a sharper focus on student achievement. “A new self-evaluation form meant we felt well prepared for inspection and it gave the inspectors a good overview of the school. “Our students valued the opportunities to engage with the inspectors and give their perspective on the school.” But John Fairhurst, head of Shenfield High School in Essex, said the new inspection framework had downgraded his school from good with outstanding features to satisfactory, simply because the school’s GCSE results in 2008 were weak. “It’s become a rather skimpy inspection with an altered agenda – heavily data driven,” he said. “The framework proved, in our case, superficial and underestimated the good work of the school.”
March 10, 2010 | Posted in
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More schools are being judged inadequate under a new inspection regime, figures from England’s schools watchdog are expected to show. Ofsted introduced a new framework in September 2009 which requires schools to achieve higher results to be rated as good or outstanding. The watchdog has insisted its new-style inspections would “raise the bar” on its expectations of schools. Data on schools’ performance under the system will be released on Wednesday. Last week the Times Educational Supplement said the new regime had seen a near doubling in the proportion of schools judged “inadequate”, while the proportion rated “outstanding” was less than half of what it used to be. But inspectors said they now had “higher expectations on behalf of pupils and parents”. ” It is no surprise if there is a rise in inadequate schools – it just reflects the fact that the bar has been raised ” Department for Children, Schools and Families A spokesman for Ofsted said: “We have made it clear that every time an inspection framework is revised, expectations are raised too.” Ofsted said the reaction from schools had been “overwhelmingly positive”, with nine out of 10 who had responded to feedback surveys saying they were satisfied with the way inspection was carried out. A spokesman for the Department for Children, Schools and Families said: “We made clear in the schools White Paper last June that inspection from September would be more challenging. “It is no surprise if there is a rise in inadequate schools – it just reflects the fact that the bar has been raised and weaker schools are being inspected earlier in the cycle.” New regime Under the new arrangements, outstanding and good schools are only inspected once within a five-year period – previously it was every three years. Satisfactory schools are inspected every three years and inadequate schools are visited regularly until they make the improvements necessary. The new regime sees inspectors assess twice as many lessons and more emphasis is put on questionnaires filled out by parents and pupils. Inspectors put more emphasis on pupil attainment – a point which has caused controversy, particularly for schools in challenging areas – rather than on improvement. Schools are given two days’ warning of an inspection and the inspections lasts for two days. Ofsted said the new format was introduced in response to teachers’ concerns inspections focused too much on schools data and inspectors did not assess enough lessons. The watchdog said more than 2,000 inspections had been carried out under the new system between September and December last year. Chris Richardson, head teacher at the Kings of Wessex School in Somerset, said the new inspection framework brought “significant improvements”, particularly a sharper focus on student achievement. “A new self-evaluation form meant we felt well prepared for inspection and it gave the inspectors a good overview of the school. “Our students valued the opportunities to engage with the inspectors and give their perspective on the school.” But John Fairhurst, head of Shenfield High School in Essex, said the new inspection framework had downgraded his school from good with outstanding features to satisfactory, simply because the school’s GCSE results in 2008 were weak. “It’s become a rather skimpy inspection with an altered agenda – heavily data driven,” he said. “The framework proved, in our case, superficial and underestimated the good work of the school.” The Association for School and College Leaders and the National Association of Head Teachers are also critical of the regime, saying it puts too much emphasis on raw attainment.
March 10, 2010 | Posted in
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