Ofsted reports slow improvement at Caen

By chubbard

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.

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."