Route 39 – Certainly Closer to Closure?

Having taken some time to reflect upon the the documentation submitted by Route 39 to the Planning Inspectorate which; without any shred of irony, they refer to as their ‘proof of evidence’, one could again be inclined to question and challenge some of the statements that have now been put forward as justification for overturning the majority decision made last September by our locally and democratically elected representatives on Torridge District Council’s planning committee.

Playing the blame game!

In statements submitted by Mr Richard Bence, Chairman of Route 39’s Board of Trustees, Route 39 is plainly seeking to place the blame for the schools woeful record of attracting and retaining students on the fact that they haven’t been able to spend upwards of £2 million building their ‘vision’, bang in the middle of our protected AONB countryside.

The document states “Significant concern and uncertainty on students and parents who had already chosen Route 39 Academy as their secondary school and were due to start in September 2013. This led to a reduction in the number of students attending in the first year by an estimated 5 students. Continued uncertainty regarding site has led to significant student instability. In Year 1 of operation, 25 students left during the year and to date, 21 have left this, our second year. This has been balanced in part by students joining, dissatisfied with other schools. In Year 1, 20 students joined the Academy in year and to date 15 have joined this year.”

As usual, this ‘evidence’ makes completely unsubstantiated claims about parents dissatisfaction at other local secondary schools (another example of the denigration of our local school provision that Route 39 openly say they never do!) yet makes no clear comment at all about the dissatisfaction of both parents and students that have left Route 39 for a myriad of reasons, choosing only to say this was because of ‘uncertainty’.

Of the parents who have pulled their children out of Route 39, while uncertainty may indeed have played a small role in their decision, in almost all cases it most certainly was not the primary driver. The quality of teaching, the behaviour of fellow students, odd-ball teaching methods, transport costs, lack of proper governance and the strong perception among some parents that Route 39 has become a school catering predominantly for SEN children from around the wider region (in order to keep the student numbers viable) are just some of the many examples cited by some of these parents that made this very difficult decision for their children.

It is very wrong to grossly generalise the deeply held feelings of these parents, who made their original choice with the very best intentions, but who quickly found that the reality of Route 39 was far, far removed from the image that they were ‘sold’. Rather than undermine these parents, Route 39 might consider acknowledging their failures and admit publicly that their experiment in education does not, in fact, have all the answers for all parents and students.

It’s not us, it’s them!

The documents go on to blame Route 39’s inadequacies on everyone else but themselves. “While the temporary accommodation provides sufficient resources to cover the 11 to 14 curriculum, the Academy is unable to implement significant aspects of the vision including land-based learning. In addition, options for GCSE are limited as there are few specialist facilities available. We have lost a couple students recently to other schools able to offer a broader curriculum. Continued uncertainty regarding a permanent site have had a negative impact on the recruitment and retention of both staff and students. This year alone we have had two candidates refused an interview and one refused a job offer due to uncertainty regarding the permanent site.”

So, according to Route 39, it’s not only the fault of all the other schools locally that have better facilities, better GCSE options and a broader curriculum, it is also the fault of those teachers that refused to join their school. Again, they put this down to that elusive condition of ‘uncertainty’. So did these professional teachers not buy in strongly enough to Route 39’s ‘vision’, were they not offered enough money (Route 39 is not restricted as to what they pay in salaries to staff) or did they perhaps see something in the way the school is actually operating that rang alarm bells? After all, Route 39 did promise its parents and students that their teachers and teaching would be ‘outstanding’, so it stands to reason that teachers would be throwing themselves at Route 39, wouldn’t they?

And while not content at simply blaming those teachers that didn’t want a job at this particular Free School, Route 39  goes on to pillory Torridge’s District Councillors on the Planning Committee. Not withstanding the fact that these people are democratically elected and that they are duty bound to exercise their duties under the Nolan Principals for Public Office, showing no fear or favour in their decision making, the statement castigates TDC Councillors by proxy because they didn’t deliver what Route 39’s board of Governors had promised to the parents, students and staff of the school. “Parents have experienced the outcome of two Torridge Planning Committee decisions and have no faith in the committee acting in the best interest of their children. It would be unreasonable to expect parents and students to have the will to endure another planning application that would require the approval of the Planning Committee once again…The delays caused by Torridge in planning applications for Route 39 Academy have had a significant impact on the short-term viability of the Academy.”

So what is the motivation?

“The progress of the Academy thus far has placed significant reliance on the team of volunteer Governors. Many have worked for four years on the Academy without pay and at significant cost personally and on their families. I am concerned that there is a point at which this volunteer goodwill becomes exhausted.” Route 39 seem, within this statement to perhaps hint that Route 39 Governors should, in fact, be paid for the work that they have done over the past four years!  This is incredible! Route 39 would do well to realise that school governors at all schools across the area and in fact across the nation, don’t do what they do for money, we all do it because it is precisely what needs to be done for the children. As Governors we volunteer to help our schools and we don’t expect to get paid for it! Why should Governors at Route 39 be any different?

The future is certainly uncertain!

Like a soothsayer reading the runes, Route 39 finally launch themselves into predictions for the future. “The viability of the Academy going forward is reliant on the number of students attending. The impact of continued uncertainty regarding the site has a high likelihood of dissuading future applicants.” they appealingly state.  “As funding is based on the number of students attending the Academy there will be a number of students below which the Academy is no longer viable. It is not possible to give an accurate figure for this as it is dependent on the needs of the students, the breadth of years and the number of students in each year.”

It might be suggested by some that this prediction is already false – the Education Funding Agency (EFA) set a minimum intake of 50 students per year into Route 39 and the academy has consistently failed to attract and, crucially, retain these numbers of students. Indeed, with only 139 students signed to attend the school from September 2015 (Update October 2015 – only 130 actually turned up in September!), the school has only 35% of the total number is stated it would have in its EFA funding application.

It is not unknown for the EFA to withdraw its (our) funding from unviable free schools and academies and with the current situation continuing, it can perhaps be said with a greater degree of certainty than ever that Route 39 is now certainly closer to closure.

Quit your moaning and get on with it!

Secondary school league tables have received a mixed press this week following the release of the final results from the 2014 examinations, with Head Teachers from various schools lining up to either applaud or denounce the league tables, perhaps depending in some cases upon how their individual schools have fared.

I have found this whole debate this week quite interesting – league tables are a rather crude way of providing parents with a comparative idea of just how well their local schools are performing, and perhaps it is no wonder, given the arcane complexity of this country’s educational statistics, performance measurements and acronyms, that parents look for a simplistic way of judging whether a school is ‘good’ or ‘bad’.

In the same way that Ofsted inspections are subject to the ‘human’ variable, so too is the league table system. Ever since league tables were brought in, schools have been looking for ways to manipulate the system or ‘play the game’. This is not surprising considering the impact that a poor showing in the table will have, both in terms of parents choosing to take their children elsewhere (with its consequential effect on the school budget) and the Armageddon that then comes raining down on to the schools from the Local Education Authority, Ofsted, Regional Commissioners and Her Majesties Inspectorate of Schools.

Playing the system

In previous years, many schools, both local authority and private, have attempted to ‘play’ the examination system, looking to enter their students into examinations with what they consider to be perhaps less ‘rigorous’ exam boards and to offer other vocational qualifications that carried ‘equivalent’ GCSE grades and which were counted in the league tables. The iGCSE was a prime example of this behaviour. The effect of this was to boost their league table standings, enabling these schools to crow triumphantly about how well they were performing and what a great job they were doing.

Now I have nothing at all against vocational qualifications, I believe these are a valuable addition to the traditional curriculum which by definition cannot always cater to the abilities of every individual student. However, I believe that these qualifications should be offered as the exception, rather than as a quick and easy way to boost the schools performance in league tables, which is what has appeared to have happened over the past few years in some schools.

Understandably this was all rather irksome to those schools that chose to play the league table game with a ‘straight bat’. By offering their students what was generally perceived to be the harder, more traditional GCSE curriculum, inevitably these schools appeared to perform less well, as fewer students delivered pass grades compared to those in other schools following an ‘equivalent’ curriculum.

Now the Government has removed these ‘equivalents’ from the league table measures, which in my view does help to bring greater transparency and clarity to annual performance measurement. This has meant that many schools have now found themselves plummeting earthwards in the table rankings and crying ‘foul’ to anyone that will listen. Well, I am sorry that your schools have been knocked off your pedestal, but hey; it wasn’t as if you were not told well in advance that this change was going to happen!

Holsworthy Community College flying high!

At my school, Holsworthy Community College, we have always tried to offer a mixed and balanced curriculum in order that every child was able to achieve the best outcome that was possible for them individually, regardless of their ability or aptitude. In other words, playing the ‘straight bat’ mentioned earlier. Over the years this has meant that perhaps we have not shone as brightly in the league table standings in comparison to some of our peer schools in Devon and we have had to deal with that situation, from the local authority, from parents and from others with perhaps a more vested interest in rubbishing our school – you know who you are!

With the 2014 league tables now published, we can see the effect of the changes that the Governments ‘level playing field’ has achieved. Out of 76 schools across Devon, Holsworthy Community College was ranked joint 16th, with 57% of students achieving 5+ A*-C grades including English and Maths at GCSE level.

In terms of Total Average Point Score per pupil, Holsworthy Community College was ranked 17th in the county, with 392.1 APS per pupil. Coupled with the ‘Good’ rating from Ofsted that was achieved last year, I think we can be justifiably proud of all the staff and students at our school, who are continually improving their performance and are really going places.

Credit where it’s due…

I am not generally a fan of Government meddling in education, however on this particular issue, I am prepared to give credit where it is due. I hope that the changes to performance measurement through these league tables will bed down and that a degree of continuity can be achieved, as these tables only work for parents and educational professionals alike when the measurements are applied fairly and consistently over time.

And for those schools that are moaning about the new league tables, think about this – You can’t take the plaudits when you’ve been milking the system, then scream blue murder when you’ve been found out. We can see what you are doing and it isn’t very edifying.

I suggest you get over it, pick yourselves up and start giving your students the consistent and high standard of education that we all; as taxpayers, are paying for and that we all, as parents; expect for our kids!

The Telegraph has a great interactive Schools League Table on its website – click here:

 

 

Blowing our trumpet for local secondary schools

Having recently visited Holsworthy Community College for the day as part of my Governing Body duties, I came away uplifted by the variety and diversity of activities undertaken and enjoyed by the students at our college. This also left me wondering if people in our part of North West Devon actually appreciate how good our local secondary schools really are?

With other places constantly bigging themselves up in the local media and online to justify their existence, seemingly for even the most prosaic activities (pickle making being a recent example!), it would not be surprising that some may be led to believe that the children in our existing secondary schools don’t get involved in their own projects or participate in extra-curricular activities, sports and cultural events.

That misconception, of course, could not be further from the truth.

So, by way of ‘blowing our own trumpet’ for once, I have taken a quick trawl through the websites and parents newsletters from our local secondary schools and colleges, just to see what our kids are actually getting up to, apart from all the studying that they do!

What I discovered was awesome! Unsurprisingly, our children actually do LOADS of GREAT STUFF!

From raising money for leukemia research to participation in county sports events, winning business innovation awards to international exchange visits, children within our local, existing secondary schools are every bit, if not even more; engaged, inspired, motivated, competitive and concerned as those from any other place.

Just take a quick look at the Enrichment and Intervention video on the Great Torrington School website to see how their children get involved in everything from Science Club to the Duke of Edinburgh Award Scheme. GCSE Geography students took part in an Urban Fieldwork trip to Plymouth, while other pupils enjoyed a night away, staying at the Met Office in Exeter!

At Holsworthy Community College, Year 9 students recently participated in and won the Devon and Cornwall Business Council Enterprise Day Challenge – Their rewards for winning the event were fantastic. Co-sponsors of the event, Hillside Foods (http://www.devonhampers.com/hillside-foods) offered the students the opportunity to visit the marketing department and see how they had developed into a local success story. The other prize was a full day down at the Virtual Jet Centre in Exeter where they get to fly a Boeing 747 simulator, as if they were doing pilot training. (www.virtualjetcentre.co.uk). Other students at the college have raised over £1260.00 for Marie Curie Cancer Care and Bristol Royal Childrens Hospital. Amazing stuff!

Meanwhile, over at Bideford College, students have enjoyed success in sports competitions, with a particularly successful Netball season – the Year 7, Year 8, Year 9 and Year 10 teams all winning their age groups in the North Devon Netball League. And Expressive Arts is also an area where Bideford College shines – two of their pupils, Amelia Dennis (Year 7) and Charlotte McLean (Year 12) were Music winners at the North Devon Arts Festival. Amelia, who plays the euphonium and violin, competed in a number of events and received some wonderful comments by the adjudicator. As well as winning her brass section, she was also the recipient of the Natwest Shield for Performance. Charlotte, who plays the violin and the flute, completed in two separate events and was awarded the Gunderson Whitehead Cup for outstanding Woodwind Solo. Perhaps glittering muscial careers beckon for both these talented young ladies.

And finally, at Budehaven, catering students from the school participated in the opening ceremony in the Bude for Food Festival. The students assisted chef Fran Parody-Candea in the first cookery demonstration preparing and cooking paella in front of a large audience. 70 Budehaven students took part alongside well over 100 students from local primary schools – Bude Juniors, Stratton, Whitstone, Jacobstow and Marhamchurch in the schools Annual Dance Performance. Entitled ‘Metamorphosis’,  the 20 dances explored aspects of change and evolution. Ranging from a kaleidoscope of butterflies, to a moving piece on World War 1, from the solar system with sparkling hoops to Thriller, to name but a few, the programme presented a varied and diverse interpretation of the theme.

So you see, it’s not just small numbers of children in extra-generously funded academies and free schools that get to do news-worthy activities! Through our existing local secondary schools, our children are actively involved in these sorts of ventures every single day and they enjoy it immensely!

Great new facilities for Holsworthy Federation students

It has been a very busy time for the Holsworthy Learning Federation over the summer break, with fantastic new facilties, technology and vehicles arriving in time for the start of the new school year. At Holsworthy Community College,  a new ‘Pasta King’ restaurant and dining area has been created for students, extending the available space for comfortable eating and  lunchtime socialising, while providing healthy and appetising meals for the children . This bright and comfortable new seating area can also be used for student music and lunch break ‘jamming’ sessions!

The bright and welcoming ‘Pasta King’ dining area at Holsworthy Community College.

To improve in-school communications and to help remind students of important events or announcements, digital signboards have also been installed in key traffic areas around the college. With scrolling messages, key dates and other helpful tips, these message boards will help raise students awareness of in-shool and after school activities as well as providing an additional communications channel for staff and students alike.

New digital media signage helps improve in-school communications

Finally, the Holsworthy Federation has taken delivery of two brand new mini-buses for use by both the federation primary schools and Holsworthy Community College. These 18 seater Peugeot mini buses will be used to transport children between the federation  schools for joint activities, for after-school sporting and cultural events and for school trips. Featuring our distinctive and attractive federation livery, these new vehicles will be a regular sight around the Holsworthy Learning Federation area and beyond, further publicising the federation and providing a terrific new resource for all the children within our school community.

New Holsworthy Federation mini buses await their first students

Coupled with the excellent Ofsted results across the federation and the great exam success for Holsworthy students this year, these improvements to our students facilities will further enhance the learning experience for all our children and clearly demonstrate that Holsworthy has the very best primary and secondary schools in North West Devon.

Route 39: DfE threatens closure of two North Devon secondary schools

In view of the Torridge District Council Planning Committee discussions being held today pertaining to the planning application for the Route 39 Free School, you may be interested to see the Impact Assessment for the Route 39 Academy Free School, recently released by the Department for Education.

The Department for Education report has only recently been made public, at a time when Route 39 Academy had already expected to have been granted permission to proceed with the construction of its 700 place school at Steart Farm, Bucks Cross. Route 39 would prefer not to have had this information made public, given their repeated claims to support sustainability of rural communities and the catastrophic effect that this report will have on our local secondary school provision and the pupils, teachers and parents that rely on these schools.

This report clearly shows that both Holsworthy Community College and Great Torrington School are at risk of closure due to a reduction in financial viability in the event that the Route 39 Academy Free School is granted permission to open.

Under Threat of Closure Due to Route 39!

Supporters of both Holsworthy and Great Torrington secondary schools, along with the Principals of Bideford College, Braunton Academy, Budehaven School and other local LEA and independent schools have consistently argued that there is no sustainable demand for a fifth secondary school within the proposed Route 39 Academy catchment, a fact that has been borne out by the massive under-subscription of children to the proposed new free school.

Meanwhile, the DfE have finally confirmed that there is currently an excess capacity of over 1100 secondary school places within the TDC area, with more than 665 surplus places within the direct catchment of Route 39 and little, if any perceived future demand, as numbers of secondary school age children within the Torridge area continue to fall in future years. The report clearly states that all the existing local secondary schools were undersubscribed in 2011/12 when the impact assessment was conducted, a situation that has continued in 2012/13 and 2013/14 and a fact that the trustees of Route 39 have continually chosen to ignore.

The impact assessment is also fundamentally flawed as it seeks to downplay the real impact of this proposed new free school by drawing direct comparisons between Holsworthy Community College and Braunton Academy, based simply on a distance calculation ‘as the crow flies’!

The DfE also need a lesson in geography, as anyone living in North Devon will be aware that in order to reach Braunton from Bucks Cross, one needs to cross both the Rivers Torridge and Taw, via Barnstaple. This is certainly not a distance of 11.3 miles as the DfE state (the distance is in fact 21.2 miles), and quite obviously, as the report states, the consequential impact on Holsworthy Community College of opening another 700 space free school in its immediate vicinity will be significantly greater than any impact on Braunton Academy.

Parents opting to send their children to Route 39 will inevitably deplete the cohorts of students attending existing local secondary schools, As these school rolls decline and as this report implicitly suggests, our local secondary schools may be forced to make additional teachers and support staff redundant and ultimately to close.

Another local secondary school and 6th form college, Budehaven, has been completely omitted from the impact assessment, presumably because it is just across the county border, and yet Budehaven is only 17.5 miles from Bucks Cross and will also suffer significant financial impact from a reduction in pupils should Route 39 be allowed to proceed.

The DfE impact assessment concludes for both Great Torrington School and Holsworthy Community College that “The Free School may affect the long term financial viability of the school.”

As each existing local secondary school sits at the very heart of its community, they are particularly important in our small towns, where they act as a focal point for our rural sustainability.  We simply must not and cannot allow our communities to live under the threat of closure of our local secondary schools in this way.

Whatever happens today, I would strongly urge all parents, particularly those with children at Holsworthy and Great Torrington Schools, to read this report, consider the impact on your family and your children of your local secondary school closing and demand that your local Councillors protect our rural towns and our children’s’ education by immediately opposing this unwarranted, ill-conceived and expensive free school experiment.

DfE Impact Assessment – Route 39 Free School

GCSE Results – Strong Performances Again at Holsworthy Community College

After weeks of nail biting tension, the morning finally arrived and the results were in. Former Year 11 students at Holsworthy Community College arrived at the school today with that odd mixture of excitement and trepidation, looking to find out how well they had done in their GCSE examinations this year.

Strong GCSE results again for Holsworthy Community College

As a Holsworthy Community College governor it is especially pleasing to see that even more subjects across the curriculum displayed a strong performance this year, notably candidates in Graphic Design with 95% of students gaining an A*-C grade. Several subjects achieved over 70% A*-C including Geography with 71% A*-C in the new, more demanding, examinations and History with 73%. Food Technology was once again over 70%, as were German and Textiles. These results emphasise the importance of a broad based curriculum that provides a variety of challenging subjects for students and that enables each individual to find a learning pathway that suits their talents and future career aspirations.

As you may have seen in the media tonight, the national A*-C pass rate in English Language has fallen by 1.9% this year to 61.7% however provisional figures for Holsworthy are currently 64.9% before re-marks, a full 3.2% above the national average. In Maths, the national figure has risen by nearly 5% to 62.4% and Holsworthy again have a provisional result of 65.7% before any re-marks are taken into account, 3.3% above the national average. In Science the A*-C national figure for one science rose from 53.1% in 2013 to 59.1%, so Holsworthy’s solid 79% this year for at least one Science pass at A*-C is highly commendable and reaffirms that Science remains one of the colleges premier subject areas.

The four subjects highlighted by Ofsted in the recent inspection (Art, English, Science and PE) all performed strongly again with 71% of pupils achieving at least two grades A*-C in Science subjects (with 24 pupils achieving A*-C in the three separate sciences), 96% of pupils entered for English Literature achieved A*-C and 75% A*-C in Media Studies. The 26 Sports Studies candidates produced 100% A*-C with 17 grades at A* or A. Art finished with 74% A*-C.

Fewer pupils are now entered for vocational courses as a result of funding pressures and the Wolf report advising students not to start vocational courses until they reach 16, but Health and Social Care results were again very strong this year and a tribute to Miss Urquhart, who teaches the subject.

24% of the 134 pupils attending Holsworthy achieved at least 3A*/As in their GCSEs, 2% above our target this year. This shows that the college strives to meet the needs of all children that come to our school, based on each individuals aptitude, aspiration and ability.

It should of course also be mentioned that our Year 10 results are extremely pleasing with a fraction under half of the cohort gaining a higher level pass in Maths in the first of their two GCSEs and over 70% achieving A*-C in their first core science exam, with many also passing an ICT qualification. All of this bodes very well for 2015!

Overall, these GCSE results are once again extremely well deserved by the Holsworthy Community College students and the staff, parents and guardians that have supported them to achieve their examination success.

Once more our students and staff have demonstrated that despite the continued negativity directed towards our college from some quarters (yes…you know who you are!), Holsworthy Community College and its students achievements are something of which each of us should be massively proud. I know I am!

Holsworthy gets a massive ‘thumbs up’ from Ofsted!

Following months of tense waiting and many, many hours of dedicated hard work from all the staff, students and governors at Holsworthy Community College, we have finally received the results of our Ofsted inspection. And, it makes me immensely proud, both as a Governor and as a parent, to announce that the college passed the inspection with flying colours, being recognised by the inspectors as a ‘Good’ school in terms of its overall educational effectiveness.

This independent judgement by Ofsted flies straight in the face of the supporters and trustees of the proposed Route 39 Academy Free School, which from its outset has continually described its adjacent secondary schools as abject failures, lacking in aspiration, attainment and leadership.

Inspiring to Achievement

Ofsted rated Holsworthy Community College as ‘Good’ in respect of achievement of pupils, recognising the superb GCSE results that our students attained in 2013, also commenting that the number of ‘A’ grades has increased. The inspectors stated that “there has been a rise in achievement over the past two years and that there is reliable evidence that this trend will continue”.

Examination results have significantly improved, particularly in Mathematics and achievement is ‘Outstanding’ in Science and English. Good teaching now enables pupils that originally entered the college with low standards of achievement to now achieve very well.

We are especially pleased to see the recognition given by Ofsted to our students who are disabled or have special educational needs, commenting that these young people are particularly well supported so that they make at least ‘Good’ progress. The inspection team also saw that those students that participate in our well taught vocational courses also achieve well in line with expectations.

Driving learning through quality teaching

During the inspection, the Ofsted team stated that they had seen “a significant improvement in the quality of teaching at Holsworthy Community College, with lessons typically good and often outstanding.” Some 97% of observed lessons were judged to be ‘good or better’, with 26% recognised as ‘outstanding’ lessons. This is a statistic that governors and staff have focussed upon intently over the past two years as we realise and understand that it is only through consistently high quality teaching that we can help our students to each fulfil their individual promise. Our aim is to continue progress in this area, sharing our best practice teaching ideas within the college and with partner schools, so that we too can learn from others and in turn, they can learn from us.

We were particularly moved when one of the inspectors told us that she had interviewed a student and asked ‘are you working hard?‘. The student replied that she was and when the inspector asked her why, she replied that ‘we are working hard for our teachers because they are working really hard for us!‘.

Science, Art, PE, Mathematics and English were singled out for additional praise from the Ofsted team, saying that “the quality of Maths teaching had improved significantly and that literacy levels within the college are strong, driven by a skilled English department. Teachers and support staff know the children at Holsworthy Community College exceptionally well and use precise data about their progress to guide teaching and learning. Teachers had extensive, frequently updated information about how well students were progressing in their learning, which in turn enabled the teaching staff to effectively plan lessons to help students progress.”

A kind, safe and well-behaved school environment

The inspection team spent two full days in the college and remarked that behaviour of students is good. Our children were seen to be “friendly, polite and enjoying their college life.” The children move around the school in a calm, orderly manner, there is little litter and the students treat the school buildings and environment with respect. Our Uniform requirements are generally adhered to (though some of the older students do insist on some odd footwear from time to time!).

The college was seen to have strong safeguarding procedures and because the college is ‘small’, it has a family feel within the community, characterised by the students kindness towards each other. This is particularly heartening as the school strives not only to educate our children, but also to encourage them to grow into caring, considerate adults.

Strong, focussed leadership and management

In it’s report summary, the Ofsted team noted that “the Principal and his leadership team have ensured that students are taught well and make good progress at the school. The improvements in teaching and learning have resulted from the clear vision and determined drive of the Principal and the senior leadership team, with a rigorous system of monitoring of teaching and learning backed by a well matched teacher training programme.” The inspectors commented that “the Principals determined and robust approaches to improving teaching within the college has resulted in a rise in GCSE results and consistently good learning throughout the college.”

Middle leaders within the school were also commended for their contribution to the vision of raising standards of teaching and learning over the whole curriculum while the Governing Body was praised as being very knowledgeable about the school, its aims, aspirations and achievements, A small group of governors make frequent visits to the school (yes, that includes me!) and have been very much involved in the colleges journey to improve. I’m too bashful to say any more about this – if you want to know what else the inspectors said about the governors, you’ll have to read the report, which you can download here.

Onwards and upwards

Never ones to rest on our laurels, the governing body, Principal, senior leaders and staff at Holsworthy Community College have already set our sights on being recognised by Ofsted as an ‘Outstanding’ school by the time of our next inspection. As the Principal, David Fitzsimmons stated in his recent letter to parents, “the verbal feedback we received from the Ofsted inspectors left us in no doubt that we have much of which to be proud. It must also be recognised that simply getting a ‘Good’ these days is much, much harder than it ever used to be!”

It is also enormously pleasing that the character of the pupils, staff, governors and parents associated with the college has been publicly recognised in this way. We can now demonstrate clearly and publicly to all parents that Holsworthy Community College is a GOOD school in which to educate your children, and it’s improving faster and more dramatically than ever before.

All of which, in turn, begs a question: Why would any parent in the Holsworthy area wish to send their child to an untried, untested and totally underwhelming free school such as Route 39? That’s like playing the lottery with your childs future!

I don’t suppose we should hold our breath waiting for a letter of congratulations from the folks at Route 39!