Secondary school in Whitchurch determined to improve following poor Ofsted report

Work is continuing to raise standards at a Shropshire secondary school following a critical report by Ofsted inspectors. 

Shropshire Council has already taken action at Sir John Talbot’s Technology College by installing an interim executive board to push forward improvements, after council officers became concerned over falling attainment levels. 

Ofsted inspectors visited the school in January 2013, and have now published their report which gives the school a rating of ‘inadequate’. 

The report does highlight some strengths of the school, saying that teaching in the arts faculty in particular is good and therefore the attainment of students is above average.  Inspectors were also impressed with the attitude and behaviour of students in some lessons, and said that school leaders were now focused on helping to improve the school. 

However, the report does highlight a number of concerns, with inspectors saying teaching standards needed to improve.  The report said: “The overall quality of teaching is inadequate because it has not brought about any improvement in achievement in recent years.  Although good teaching was evident in a majority of lessons observed during the inspection, the quality of teaching is improving too slowly.” 

Inspectors also said that governors and managers had been too slow to make improvements, but were now starting to make progress. 

The headteacher left the school last week and the school is now being temporarily overseen by Sarah Longville, headteacher of The Marches School. 

Cecilia Motley, Shropshire Council’s Cabinet member for education and skills, said:

“We have been working with the school for some time to kickstart the necessary improvements, and had to formally step in last year by issuing a warning notice and then establishing an interim executive board (IEB). 

“The IEB is made up of education experts and experienced governors, and has been making good progress on an action plan which will get the school moving in the right direction.  Everyone is determined to move forward and we all have the same aim – to make sure the pupils are getting the very best education opportunities possible.” 

Kate Campion, chair of the Interim Enterprise Board, said:

“The board replaced the governing body at Sir John Talbot’s Technology College in December 2012.  We spoke with inspectors in January, and although disappointing for students and the community, we were not surprised by the Ofsted inspection outcome.  While there is much to do, the key issues identified give us a very clear agenda to address and hopefully we can make significant changes quite quickly. 

“Improving standards and ensuring there is capacity, within the leadership of the college, to sustain improvement are two of our key short-term aims.  We want the college to become the school of choice for all 11-18 year olds in Whitchurch and its surrounding area.”