Leaders at a school placed in special measures by Ofsted because of poor standards have pledged to make rapid improvements.
Families at Cotham Gardens Primary have also rallied to support the school following the publication of the education watchdog’s highly critical report last month.
Three Ofsted inspectors who visited the 482-pupil school for two days in December judged the quality of education and the leadership and management to be inadequate. Early years education and children’s behaviour and attitudes and their personal development were all rated as “requires improvement”.
“Pupils do not receive an acceptable standard of education at Cotham Gardens,” the inspectors said.
Their report downgraded Cotham Gardens from its previous rating of good. It said the school, which is a standalone academy, had not done enough to identify and address weaknesses and this had been compounded by “turbulence in leadership and governance”.
“The school and the trust must strengthen leadership capacity at all levels so that improvements are rapid and sustainable,” Ofsted said.
The report did acknowledge that recent changes to the trust board showed early signs of bringing about better oversight and a more strategic approach to providing the rapid and sustained improvements that were needed.
It recognised that children felt happy and safe at Cotham Gardens and that arrangements for safeguarding were effective. It also highlighted strengths in curriculum design, early reading and rigorous work on attendance.
Chris Seaton, chief executive officer at Cotham Gardens, said turbulence in leadership, management and governance over several years had had an impact on the school but hard work had been taking place since last summer to put things right.
He said he, the board, recently appointed head of school Emmeline Smith and their team were resolute in their commitment to making the changes needed, working with Regional Director’s office of the Department for Education to secure external support and implement a robust improvement plan.
The inspection team had provided a clear agenda for improvement, he added.
“Our staff team is motivated and determined to address the issues raised by Ofsted while consolidating the work already done in the past few months. “Cotham Gardens is a happy place, where parents and teachers alike want the best for their children; we have tried to foster an environment where children have the chance to showcase all their talents. We will be continuing to engage with parents as we continue on this exciting journey.”
Meanwhile, parents at the school have hit out at Ofsted over the report. In a letter to the board signed by 126 people, they said “The Ofsted report does not reflect our or our children’s positive experiences of Cotham Gardens Primary School, which has for many delivered a love of learning, a wealth of experiences and a valuable focus on being a good citizen.
“While we recognise that Ofsted need to address certain points and conform to a predefined format in their report, and also take on board your own acceptance of the areas for improvement and necessary actions required, we feel the report is far too overwhelmingly negative in tone.”
Some of Ofsted’s comments:
• The school’s expectations of pupils’ achievement are low.
• The impact of the school’s curriculum is weak.
• Support for pupils with SEND to learn the curriculum is poor.
• Pupils’ gaps in learning are not routinely addressed.
• Staff do not follow the behaviour policy consistently well.
• Provision for pupils’ broader personal development lacks coherence.
• The personal development offer is not implemented as well as intended.
• A lack of oversight has led to a decline in the quality of education that pupils receive.