All parents will share concerns
ON HEARING of St Sampson’s School’s Ofsted report, islanders are wondering where to turn next in the island’s continuing education saga.
Yesterday Education chiefs told us that they would not know when, or where, the next Ofsted inspection might be, but while St Sampson’s pupils, parents and teachers might be seeking urgent guidance on what happens next, and rightly so, the question playing on every other secondary parent’s mind will be: ‘Is my child also attending a failing school?’
Some parents and ex-pupils said yesterday that while they may not recognise the whole package as equating to a ‘failing school’, they did recognise most, of the symptoms.
There are just so many strands that have led us to this unhappy conclusion. Another previously failing secondary school. Failure to follow through on the recommendations of the 'Mulkerrin' report. Apparent resistance to Ofsted inspections from within Education.
Clear recognition of issues at St Sampson’s, temporarily tackled with the arrival of new head teacher Vicky Godley, yet still a failing report two years later. Did anyone know the real reason she was brought in?
Islanders have heard an early apology from the Education president, and now want to see action on the commitment for immediate improvement at St Sampson’s, and need to be reassured that the problems are not endemic throughout the States secondary system.