Formerly outstanding Kennet School told it must do better

A meeting with parents has been arranged to discuss the outcomes of the inspection and what plans have been put in place to try to reverse them. Ofsted ratings range from outstanding, good, requires improvement and inadequate.
In a letter to parents, the headteacher Paul Dick, said that the school staff had been “desperately disappointed” with much of the report.
It said: “The school is clear that it is our responsibility to ensure that such disappointment never occurs again, and many significant changes have been made to secure rapid improvement.”
Following its inspection last month, the Stoney Lane school was deemed to be overall “requiring improvements” as well as in the achievement of pupils and the quality of teaching. The Stoney Lane school did receive “good” grades in the behaviour and safety of pupils and leadership and management.
The inspectors criticised the progress made by groups of pupils and that the teaching in some subject areas that had not enabled pupils to make good progress. The percentage of pupils achieving five GCSE grades A* to C including English and mathematics also came under fire for having declined to average, as did the fact that some teachers did not mark students’ work regularly or thoroughly.
However, some positives were that the headteacher and the governing body had made significant changes to the senior and middle leadership team and their actions over the past year were already having a positive impact. The sixth form was also said to be good, pupils with special educational needs made good progress, the behaviour of pupils throughout the school was good, and the school offered a wide range of extra-curricular activities.
In response to the inspection report, Mr Dick, said: “Firstly and most importantly, Kennet was delighted with much of the feedback from the Ofsted inspectors, as it was very positive indeed.
“They praised the progress of most pupils, they praised the progress of the more able, they praised the progress of the sixth form, they were delighted with the work in both our resources and with the way pupils treat one another and the relationships they have with their teachers.
“The school knew that a small group of pupils performed badly last summer (14 per cent of the year group).
“Once published, those results are fixed. The school put many plans in place, to ensure that the current Year 11 achieve much better, and we are confident that they will.
“We accept that, for a school to be ‘outstanding’, everything needs to fit that description and we are determined that will be the case again at Kennet, in the near future. We will continue to work closely with our parents and pupils, in pursuit of the school’s motto, ‘Excellence through Endeavour’.”