Is one half of a married couple running Café B
GARETH JONES
What is your favourite film or TV show? Anything with Alan Partridge in. The shows are so well written. What is your favourite takeaway? Chicken pathia, saag bahji, keema naan. Is there one thing nobody knows about you? No. What’s your ultimate ambition in life? I just want to do a bit of travelling and put a bit of spare time into the local community.
Have you got any pet hates? Basic bad manners in people.
What is your favourite song? Album, The Dark Side of the Moon, Pink Floyd. Every track.
Marmite; love it or hate it? I Love Marmite.
What is your worst habit? Sitting in my underpants at home.
What was your first car? Vermillion red Austin Allegro.
If you could make up any law, what would it be? No VAT or tax for everyone for a whole year.
If you could go anywhere in the world, where would you go? Great pyramid at Giza; there are more questions than answers.
What celebrities would you invite to a dinner party? Laurel and Hardy in their prime, Nikola Tesla and Billy Connolly.
What would you do if you won the lottery? Franchise Cafe B in different places around the world and I would have to visit them to make sure they are running properly. THE head of a Newhall secondary school says she is “pleased” with a recent Ofsted report despite inspectors calling for further improvements in teaching and pupil behaviour.
William Allitt School has been handed the “requires improvement” rating for the second inspection in a row, after previously being visited in July 2016.
Inspectors from the educational watchdog went to the Sunnyside school, which has 715 pupils on its roster, between the ages of 11 and 16, on Tuesday and Wednesday, September 11 and September 12.
Head teacher Jackie Cooper has said staff members are striving to offer the very best educational experience possible for pupils.
Mrs Cooper, who has been in the role since Easter 2014, said: “We are generally pleased with the latest Ofsted report as we continue to work hard to make the school the best it can be.
“It was particularly heartening that the report recognised the work we have done to raise standards of achievement, improve pupil progress, increase levels of attendance, further develop the capacity of the school leadership team and improve the quality of teaching and learning.
“Students being safe and cared for, benefiting from a wide curriculum and being prepared for a successful future is really important to us.
“We have always said that change would not happen overnight. We are committed to the long haul.
“This report acknowledges we are still heading in the right direction.”
The investigation saw the effectiveness of leadership, quality of teaching, personal development and outcomes for pupils rated individually, all of which were rated as “requires improvement”, one rating above the lowest of “inadequate”, and two below the top mark of “outstanding”.
Inspectors judged that although the school had improved since its previous inspection, this had not been done quickly enough to offer “consistently good outcomes for pupils.”
It adds that the quality of teaching, learning and assessment varied across the school, which Mrs Cooper said they are looking to address by encouraging teachers to collaborate with one another.
The relationships between pupils and staff have been praised as “generally positive,” claiming that when teachers have high expectations for the conduct of their pupils, they respond well in return and make positive progress.
Inspectors reported they saw some strong teaching across a number of subjects, and were informed by pupils that standards are improving.
Ofsted have presented leaders at William Allitt School with a number of targets to improve further.
Bosses have been urged to measure the impact of their actions to improve pupil progress and then use these findings to identify the next steps needed.
Senior leaders have also been advised to provide the governing body with information so leaders can be held to account better.
The improvements summary reads: “Improve the quality of teaching, learning and assessment and make sure that all groups of pupils make consistently strong progress by ensuring that all teachers make use of opportunities to share the most effective practice in the school.
“Act quickly to improve the areas identified for improvement in their teaching practice.”
It has also been highlighted that the behaviour and attendance of pupils could be enhanced by reducing the number of incidents of bad behaviour and the number of pupils.