A school is on the mend with a headteacher 'determined' to turn things around after an Ofsted report demanded improvement.
After being visited by the education assessment authority in June, St John’s Church of England School in Green Lane, Stanmore, was deemed to require improvement following an inspection which highlighted concerns including failures by staff and governors to rigorously measure the school's performance.
Since visiting again on November 19 however, Ofsted have now published a new report outlining significant improvements including praising changes to the school's leadership model, as well as a new system employed to track the individual progress of pupils.
Ofsted officer Ann Debono said: "The headteacher is determined that pupil progress will improve more rapidly.
"The chair and vice chair of governors are committed to rapid school improvement. They acknowledge that they can learn from past weaknesses in holding school leaders to account for sustained improvement."
Planning and individual pupil progress are at the heart of the school's recovery plan, with the Ofsted inspector noting: "The introduction of half-termly pupil progress meetings has ensured a strong focus by teachers and leaders on improving outcomes for all pupils.
"Leaders monitor planning weekly. The planning format has changed and it now identifies learning to meet pupils’ abilities more closely."
Mrs Debono also noted that since being labelled as requiring improvement, the leadership team at the school – previously rated as 'outstanding' by Ofsted in 2010 – has been restructured to include a new deputy headteacher, two new assistant headteachers, a special needs co-ordinator and two new subject leaders for English and mathematics.
The report is a far cry from authority's analysis in June, which said: "Teaching is not consistently good enough to make sure pupils always achieve well."
