Education Committee president and former teacher Paul Montague said the school had been through a huge transformation, including the removal of the 11-plus seven years ago, the merging of Les Varendes and La Mare De Carteret, as well as the separation of the Sixth Form on the site.
In its Ofsted inspection, published earlier this week, Les Varendes was rated ‘good’ in behaviour and attitudes, personal development and welfare and in leadership and management. It was also found that the quality of education requires improvement.
‘There’s an awful lot of hard work going on at that school and they have made significant progress,’ said Deputy Montague.
‘Those three categories of “good”, the school was expecting them, they were pleased to receive them and it’s always good to get that external validation.
‘All of the staff still working in that school, they’ve driven up standards in those areas.
‘That school has been through an awful lot of change and so when I read the report, I’m aware of all of the work that has been done.’
Ofsted has a four-year rolling plan, but Les Varendes was not inspected during that period.
Schools which are closing or merging do not get inspected, so the inspection was paused and rolled over to now, in the latest four-year plan. The hope is for the high school to be inspected again within the next four years.
‘We have a real focus on teaching and learning in all our schools and because of staff turnover and the merging of those two student groups, I suspect that the school will make really quick progress from now,’ said Deputy Montague.
‘It was only in September that they brought in two year groups from La Mare to join the youngsters at Les Varendes, that’s not an easy thing to do and I think they’re making great progress.
‘I’m also really pleased to see the written feedback on the welfare, safeguarding and attendance of young people.
‘The journey it has made is really, really positive.’
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