Issue - meetings

To receive a report containing the school performance indicators and the most recent school Ofsted reports.

Gillian Cole, Principal Primary Advisor went through the report which contained Ofsted letters from schools that had undergone inspections since the last meeting of the Committee.

Gillian Cole explained that Section 5 (S5) inspections lasted five days and were capable of changing a school’s grading; Section 8 (S8) inspections lasted one day and could not change the school’s grading, therefore S8 inspections were more like a monitoring visit. 

Gillian Cole went through the report and highlighted the following points:

Bearwood Primary School – S5 Good

Gillian Cole stated that this school had been previously rated ‘Requires improvement’ and that this result was a significant success for the school.  The Local Authority had worked closely with this school.

St Nicholas Hurst CE Primary School – S8 Good

This was a monitoring visit and the school maintained its good grading.

St Dominic Savio Primary School – S8 Good

This school continued to be good and the regulator called for a S5 inspections with the expectation that school will achieve outstanding.  

Beechwood Primary School – S8 Monitoring visit – appropriate action and satisfactory progress

The school is taking effective action towards improvement.

Northern House Academy – S8 Monitoring visit

Gillian Cole stated that as this was an academy school, its support and challenge were received from the academy trust. 

During the discussion of the item the following comments were made:

·           Members were pleased with Bearwood School’s achievement and wished to congratulate all that were involved in achieving this success;

·           Members asked if Northern House would accept training for governors from the Local Authority.  Gillian Cole stated that the Local Authority kept an open door and the school could buy support if they wished to;

·           Members were interested to know at what point a new trust would be sought if there were no improvements;

·           Gillian Cole stated that the Local Authority was keeping the channel open with the school;

·           Gillian Cole stated that the trust was not using the support within the trust to help the school;

·           Jim Leivers stated that he had had conversations with the Education Funding Agency (EFA) and the Regional Schools Commissioner (RSC) about concerns in relation to the school.  The school was a resource that the Local Authority did not want to lose.  He would keep the Committee informed of any developments;

·           Jim Leivers stated that this was an academy school, and as such the Local Authority had no power to intervene, the school was under the remit of the RSC;

·           Councillor Croy was concerned that Wokingham children were being failed by the system; 

·           In response to a question Gillian Cole stated that if a Councillor wished to take part in the governing body of the school they should contact the trust directly;

·           In response to a question Jim Leivers stated that the school, as an academy, was independent of the Local Authority and he would be reluctant to spend the Local Authority’s already stretched resources into an independent resource;

·           Members pointed out that the children were the responsibility  ...  view the full minutes text for item 11