Celebration as school told it is ‘good’ by inspectors
A DERBYSHIRE secondary school which was judged to “require improvement” the last time it was inspected by Ofsted in 2015 has now been told it is “good” overall.
Frederick Gent School was visited by a team from Ofsted in March, and its report has just been published.
The South Normanton school, which has 777 pupils, was praised by inspectors for being “welcoming and inclusive” and school leaders are noted for encouraging pupils “to be ambitious, brave and caring”.
A range of activities, including debating and trampolining, is said to help pupils explore their interests.
The report said that most pupils are happy at school, and added: “They recognise that they are well looked after, particularly those with special educational needs. They know how to share with the adults who support them any worries they may have.
“Leaders and staff set high expectations for all pupils. Pupils are achieving better than in the past because leaders have improved the quality of education.”
The only area that still “requires improvement” is behaviour and attitudes, and the inspectors said: “Most pupils have positive attitudes and are polite and hard working. They treat each other with kindness and respect.
“However, some pupils and parents told us that learning is often disrupted by poor behaviour.
“They expressed concern that not all pupils treat others as well as they should. Leaders have put in place effective systems to monitor and challenge instances of poor behaviour. Pupils’ behaviour is improving.
“In most lessons, pupils behave well and focus on their work. Pupils say that learning can be disrupted by others. They say that this can have a negative impact on how they feel about school. Staff take incidents of bullying seriously. However, some pupils do not feel confident about reporting it.”
The report also notes that the curriculum is “ambitious” and “teachers have strong subject knowledge” which enables students to “succeed in learning and in life”.
To make further improvements, the school has been told it needs to improve its behaviour systems, make the curriculum equally ambitious for all pupils, and take time to make sure that the learning is embedded before moving on.
The school received one monitoring visit after its inspection in 2015, and then joined the Two Counties Trust in November 2017. In January 2019, new headteacher Chris Woolard joined the school.
He said: “This judgement from Ofsted is a fantastic result for the whole school community and is testament to the commitment, ambition and professionalism of all the staff. The inspectors were highly impressed with the quality of education, the high expectations for all students and the integration of the school’s values – ambitious, brave and caring.”
Wesley Davies, Two Counties Trust chief executive, added: “It was wonderful to see that the inspectors were complimentary of the ambitious curriculum and strong subject knowledge of our expert teachers.
“I would like to thank staff, students and our families for their commitment and hard work over the past few years to ensure Frederick Gent enhances the life choices of all its pupils. We are already working on the relative next steps identified in the report.”