Ofsted reports slow improvement at Caen
TIME is running out for a failing Braunton primary school to reach a good enough standard to be removed from special measures by Ofsted this year.
Caen Primary School went into special measures in July 2008 after Ofsted inspectors said it was failing to give pupils an acceptable standard of education.
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SPECIAL MEASURES: Caen Primary School, Braunton.
To help the school improve, it has been pumped with extra cash from the Local Education Authority, and has been kept on an ongoing monitoring regime by Ofsted.
Last year the school was also placed on a strict progress timetable, which, with the help of the extra funding and resources available, set out to have the school's quality of teaching and learning to be at 50% "good or better" by April this year.
And by the beginning of this month, the school's target was for teaching and learning to be consistently good with outstanding elements.
If the school can prove it has reached these standards by December this year, it will be removed from the special measures category.
However, with July here, the chances of the school reaching this standard is, according to inspectors, not looking likely.
In the latest inspection report from the school, Ofsted said: "While many milestones in the original action plan have been reached, some important ones relating to achievement and standards have proved to be quite challenging.
"Consequently, the current timescale for the school's improvement and for its removal from special measures is ambitious."
In fact, according to the latest inspection report, the school is only achieving a standard of "satisfactory" across the board.
The
Journal
approached Devon County Council and asked whether Caen was expected to reach its targets, and asked what would happen if it did not.
Speaking on behalf of Caen Primary School, David Hutchings, of Devon County Council, refused to comment directly, but said: "As part of its normal monitoring programme, Ofsted is making termly inspections.
"The results of these will be published by Ofsted in the normal way. Both Devon County Council and the school will be happy to comment on the inspection report when it is published."
5 Comments
by Kate, Braunton
Tuesday, July 21 2009, 10:50AM
“Since the other local schools are upholding much higher standards as shown by their OFSTEDs I can't imagine to which schools you refer. The amount of money that has been thrown at Caen to help it make improvements to bring it up to a satisfactory level is crazy shows money alone isn't enough.”
by Parent, Braunton
Sunday, July 19 2009, 10:07PM
“Yes Kate, we do care. Most of the parents at Caen do support the school as we can see the progress that our children are making. They are in a secure and happy environment with staff who care for them. It will be interesting to see what the parents of those pupils who left the school in droves do when another local school faces a similar situation to Caen. I wonder whether the journal will be so negative about that school? We shall see.”
by Kate, Braunton
Monday, July 13 2009, 5:00PM
“It must have been dire to take so long to improve to even reach a satisfactory level which has still not been achieved. How much do headteachers earn approx. £40K for a school that size so is it money well spent? The a deputy head and all the others.....The jury is out what do the parents think? Are the pupils that left the school in droves coming back? It would appear at least one parent (comment below) is very happy with the low standards being achieved at this school and the other parents - apathy? do they care?”
by A parent, Braunton
Friday, July 03 2009, 4:37PM
“I am more than happy with the education my child is getting at this lovely school. Please stop printing such negative and biased stories.”
by Taxman, Barnstaple
Friday, July 03 2009, 12:02PM
“Proof, if proof is required that throwing money at a problem does not work. I wish our spendthrift government (government being a most inappropriate description for NuLab ) which encourages such expenditure would learn this simple lesson. The problem with government, and local government is that they are poor educationalists, as they keep saying that lessons will be learned, but they never are. Perhaps, "thick" would be the appropriate word to use in this instance!”