School in top 1% downgraded
Maidenhead: Staff at Lowbrook Academy feel Ofsted report is unfair with its lower rating of ‘Good’
Lowbrook Academy in Maidenhead has expressed its dissatisfaction with the latest Ofsted report that has taken it down from an Outstanding overall rating to Good.
The school was inspected in December last year. Though it scored Outstanding in three out of five categories, its quality of education and leadership were rated as Good, bringing the overall rating down.
On the positive side, Ofsted referred to Lowbrook as an ‘inclusive and warm school’, where pupils build character and confidence ‘exceptionally well’.
Pupils are ‘highly motivated’ and ‘consistently demonstrate positive attitudes in lessons and around the school.’
“They are proud of their community of respect where everyone is happy and feels safe,” Ofsted wrote.
The inspection body also noted the trust that students have in their teachers and their willingness to meet the ‘high ambitions’ set for them.
Pupils, including those with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND), ‘achieve very well.’
Ofsted praised the ‘skilful’ interactions between staff and pupils and ‘nurture [their] talents and interests.’
“The vision of senior leaders has inspired those who work in the school,” Ofsted wrote. “They are well-supported, and leaders show great care for the wellbeing of their staff.”
However, Ofsted also noted that the sequencing of knowledge ‘has not been fully considered by leaders’ and there is ‘not a consistent approach’.
“Leaders therefore do not know if pupils throughout the school are learning what they should be,” Ofsted wrote.
In a strongly-worded response, Lowbrook Academy has said it is ‘disappointed’ with the Ofsted report.
The school raised ‘serious concerns’ about the inspection procedure, the framework applied, and ‘the lack of experience of the inspectors involved.’
David Rooney, headteacher, highlighted how 99 per cent of Lowbrook students have achieved the expected level in in Maths and English across 10 consecutive years – placing Lowbrook in the top one per cent of schools nationally.
“Our results speak for themselves,” he wrote.
“We do not believe the school should be downgraded.”
He added that the report ‘does not reflect’ the school’s priorities for development, of ensuring that children are ‘happy and healthy and ready for secondary school.’
He feels the report does not take into account the issues it faces, such as children’s mental health, the cost-ofliving crisis and its impact on schools, recruitment and retention.
“Like many other primary schools, we have spent the past three years managing the impact of the global pandemic on our students, teachers, and the wider community,” wrote Mr Rooney.
“During this extraordinary time, we have provided the highest quality of remote learning, and offered additional social support to pupils, focusing on mental health and their families.
“This included delivering meals to children most in need when vulnerable family members were housebound with COVID.”
He added that there appears to be a ‘concerning’ trend emerging from Ofsted inspections.
“The wider impact of this is that many experienced schools and headteachers of previously Outstanding schools will now be less likely to mentor and support other schools,” he wrote.
“How is the regulator planning to replace this significant loss of expertise at a time when many schools are still in crisis with acute staff shortages?”
Ofsted has said it does not have anything to further to add to the Ofsted report – but said that inspection outcomes are subject to ‘thorough quality assurance procedures’ and it monitors the quality of inspections through ‘a range of formal processes’.