Education director praises St Sampson’s High team
STAFF have focused on tackling bullying issues at St Sampson’s High School, and progress has been made an Ofsted report has stated.
But more work is needed.
Inspector Sarah McGinnis said there had been considerable work to ensure that pupils understood what constituted bullying and how to report concerns.
‘This is making a positive difference to the frequency and the nature of such incidents,’ she said.
‘Some pupils act as “anti-bullying ambassadors”... Overall, this combined approach from staff and pupils means that pupils increasingly feel safe on the school site. They are confident that staff will respond to their concerns.
‘However, there is still more work to do here as this is not reflective of some pupils’ experience of school.
‘The increasing sense of pupils’ ease while at school has also translated into improved attendance.’
Another area needing improvement was helping pupils to catch up after absences.
Ms McGinnis said that exclusions remained higher than leaders would like, but this was due to leaders establishing high expectations, and more accurate records of exclusions.
In terms of teaching, it was found pupils who were struggling with reading were given support, although teachers did not fully understand how to support them.
There were strong pastoral interventions in place, particularly for pupils who struggle with behaviour.
But Ms McGinnis also noted that there was too much emphasis on how the curriculum is taught.
‘There is not yet a fully developed understanding of the crucial knowledge that pupils need to learn, the curriculum goals that teachers expect pupils to reach, or how the curriculum is best sequenced to support pupils to build up their subject knowledge over time,’ she said.
‘As a result, teachers’ use of assessment is not planned and aligned precisely to check whether pupils have learned the curriculum as intended.’
Following the publication of the report, director of education Nick Hynes said Mrs Godley and her team deserved credit for delivering substantial improvements over such a short space of time.
‘One academic year is not a long time in which to make significant progress like we’ve seen at St Sampson’s High this year,’ he said.
‘It really is a fantastic achievement for the whole school.’
Education, Sport & Culture president Andrea Dudley-Owen said last year’s report had brought together the school community with a renewed focus.
n The monitoring report can be read in full at www.gov.gg/inspections.
