Agenda item

To receive Ofsted reports of schools that were inspected since the last meeting:

·         Oaklands Infant

·         All Saints CE (Aided) Primary

·         Bearwood Primary

·         Keep Hatch Primary

·         Southfield Special School (this report will be discussed in a Part 2 session)

The Committee considered the Schools Ofsted Performance report which was set out on pages 39-64 of the agenda.

The Chairman stated that the table on pages 41-43 was particularly useful, easy to understand and compare.  Alan explained that the comments column were extracts from the Ofsted reports made in relation to the Local Authority support and intervention.  Where the column was left blank, this was because there were no comments in relation to the Local Authority.

The Committee discussed the item and following points were made:

Bearwood Primary School – Requires Improvement

·           Alan stated that this school was previously rated requires improvement, and had not yet improved, this was a cause of concern;

·           The school had received a preliminary warning letter from the Local Authority;

·           Alan felt satisfied that the Headteacher was taking the necessary measures to improve the school;

·           There was now a new Chair of Governors.

Oaklands Junior School – Good

·           The Committee was pleased to note that the school continued to be good;

·           The Committee noted the Ofsted comment about improvement in value added at the school;

·           Alan explained that this was a letter to the Headteacher rather than a full report.  This format was used when schools had previously been rated good.

All Saints CofE (Aided) Primary School – Good

·           The Committee noted that the school had used the previous inspection result of requires improvement to make the necessary changes to achieve this positive result;

·           It was noted that the Early Years provision was rated outstanding, which was an excellent result.  Alan stated that one individual had made a significant contribution to this result.

Keep Hatch Primary School – Requires Improvement

·           Councillor Younis stated that it was concerning when schools received a requires improvement Ofsted result as this discouraged parents from applying to those schools;

·           Judith stated that it was important to help Headteacher and Governors to be prepared for Ofsted inspections.  The Local Authority had supported a number of schools which had remained good.

Members emphasized the importance of making sure that schools did not miss out on a good Ofsted result because of basic mistakes.  Alan stated that the School Improvement Board supported schools to make sure that basic things were not missed.

In response to a question Alan stated that it could take 18 months to turn around a school and achieve a better Ofsted result. 

Judith was curious to know how many Councillors were governors in the local schools.  She stated that there could be a wealth of experience to be added to governing bodies.  Councillor Swaddle state that Members used to be sent a list of governor vacancies.  This would be a way to interest Members in potentially taking up positions as governors.

Councillor Dolinski would like to know how much effort and time had taken to improve schools, it would be interesting to have a measure.

Judith stated that the Local Authority was always striving to do better, but she had great confidence in the School Improvement team.  In response to a question Judith stated that there were 4.6 School Improvement Officers in the team.  There was currently a vacancy, the Local Authority bought this services when needed.

Councillor Rowland suggested that the Local Authority encouraged the partnership and engagement of outstanding Headteachers to share good practices.

Members felt that governors should be strongly encouraged to take up all the training offered by the Local Authority to enable them to monitor and challenge Headteachers.  The Chairman stated that it would be interesting to compare schools Ofsted results with governors level of training.

RESOLVED: That the answers to the questions raised during discussion be provided at the next meeting of the Committee.