School fails to give acceptable education

PARENTS, teachers and school governors have been stunned by a decision by education watchdogs to place a popular primary school in special measures.
Governors at Stockton Heath Primary School, near Warrington, have rejected the findings of Ofsted – the Office for Standards in Education – and have lodged an official complaint about the inspectors’ findings.
The Ofsted inspection team, led by Angela Westington, described the school as serving “an area of significant social and economic advantage” and say it was an effective school, with good quality teaching and providing good value for money when it was last inspected, four years ago.
But after a new inspection in April they say it is failing to give its pupils an acceptable standard of education and the persons responsible for leading, managing or governing the school are not demonstrating the capacity to secure the necessary improvements.
The inspectors’ report adds: “The school’s view of its work is over generous in almost all aspects and significantly so in a few key areas.
“Standards now attained by pupils by the end of Key Stage 2 are broadly average but variable. Given their favourable starting points, this represents inadequate achievement.
“The situation is made more worrying by the drop in standards in Key Stage 1 where there has been a steady decline in reading and writing national test results and a recent significant decline in mathematics.
“The quality of teaching is not as good as the school thinks it is. It is highly variable and there is some that is inadequate.
“Leadership and management are inadequate because weaknesses in key aspects of the school’s work have not been identified or, where identified, have not been acted upon.”
The report says headteacher Lynda Carnes is dedicated, hard working and committed but has worked for a lengthy period without the support of a deputy. She has also had to manage a move to a new building, due to take place this summer, and there has been a high staff turnover.
But the school expects too little of its pupils and is running a large deficit budget, which allows a generous adult-pupil staff ratio. As a result, it does not provide satisfactory value for money.
Chairman of the governors Chris Ardern said: “Governors, staff and the local authority do not accept the validity of this report. Consequently, with the full support of and together with the local authority, the governors are actively challenging the Ofsted inspection through the official complaints procedure.
“The complaint has three distinct aspects – the process of the inspection, the conduct of the inspection team and the judgements made. This is a process that was not embarked upon lightly but reflects our grave concerns over the conclusions drawn.”
Ian Chambers, Warrington’s head of school improvement, in a letter to parents said: “Stockton Heath is not a school that we would judge as requiring special measures and the judgements contained in the Ofsted report do not correspond to the views of the local authority of the school improvement partner, a very experienced Cheshire headteacher.”
Stockton Heath Primary was at the centre of a huge row last year when a determined group of parents staged a lengthy but unsuccessful campaign against plans to demolish the 100-year-old building and replace it with new buildings within the school grounds.