‘Not for me to pre-judge any inspection by Ofsted’
IT WOULD be inappropriate to pre-judge what areas of concern might be raised in future secondary school inspections, director of education Nick Hynes has said.
His comments follow a damning Ofsted report of St Sampson’s High School, which revealed issues with leadership, bullying and attendance and sparked an emergency meeting with school parents.
The news came as a shock to many, as the school’s previous validation report in 2015 had been glowing.
Mr Hynes said he understood that report might have led to concern among other secondary school parents, with the Grammar School, Les Beaucamps and La Mare de Carteret still to be inspected.
‘While I cannot pre-judge the outcomes of inspections that will be carried out in the future, I can say that our school leaders are becoming increasingly familiar with the requirements of what is a new Ofsted inspection framework and carry out self-assessments against those requirements,’ he said.
‘Any areas of concern will be escalated, with leaders getting the support they need to address them.’
He added that it would be inappropriate to predict Ofsted inspectors’ findings.
‘What I can say, however, is that all our schools and the College of Further Education will be inspected by Ofsted,’ he said.
‘That is written into the contract and it is something we’re committed to as we fully recognise the importance of independent external inspections. They are an essential part of our commitment to continual improvement.
‘We don’t know which school will be inspected next or when that will be as it is for Ofsted to decide – it is simply required to notify the school’s head teacher, two days in advance.’
Changes are already under way at St Sampson’s High with new appointments to its senior leadership team.
Les Beaucamps has written to parents, stating that assistant head teacher Paul Smith was moving to St Sampson’s to become deputy head, and Les Beaucamps head of games Tammie Harris will become an assistant head teacher at St Sampson’s.
