‘You must listen to the people who run schools’

THE HEAD of the Trinity MultiAcademy Trust says Ofsted must listen to headteachers about their new inspection framework.

One of the schools under the trust, Akroydon Primary Academy in Halifax, has been told it requires improvement in its latest Ofsted report.

The Boothtown school is rated good in behaviour and attitudes and personal development, but requires improvement in leadership and management, early years provision and overall effectiveness.

But Mr Gosling, a former head of Trinity Academy in Halifax, has submitted an official complaint to Ofsted for the first time in his career, such is his frustration and disappointment with the inspection.

Mr Gosling said: “I think some of the areas Ofsted identified we are in agreement with, in some of the areas where we are in the early stages of development and improvement.

“Where we are disappointed most is that we feel as though some of the improvements have been remarkable over the last couple of years, we think the school has been transformed.

“Our Key Stage 2 SATS score was 25 per cent two years ago, and now it’s 70 per cent.

“The first

COMPLAINT: Michael Gosling, head of Trinity Multi-Academy Trust. meeting on day one with the inspectors, they looked at that and thought it’s such a massive improvement, we must have neglected other parts of the school.

“We feel we are being punished for prioritising English and maths. But that’s not at the expense of other subjects like music and art.

“The inspectors pulled some children out of a year four class and asked them what they remembered from a history lesson last year.

“If one of them couldn’t remember or misquoted something, which can happen, they gave more weight to that than the fact that results had gone up 45 per cent.

“The new framework is designed to reward middle class schools. But teaching in any school can be good or bad.

“I’ve worked in deprived schools for 25 years and gone through 50 Ofsted inspections, but I’ve never felt this strongly.

“We have made an official complaint, because the framework is doing the opposite of what it was intended to do. It punishes schools in deprived areas.

“It will make it harder to recruit good teachers because they will choose to work in leafy laned schools rather than deprived schools.

“I’ve already had resignations from the school since the report was published

Poachers becoming not very good game keepers’ springs to mind. It is preposterous to state that standards in school have declined

from people who put their heart and soul into the school but been left thinking ‘what’s the point’?”

When asked what his message to Ofsted was, Mr Gosling said: “Listen to the people who run these schools, listen to leading educationalists about what they are saying about how this framework is being interpreted on the ground.

“I believe the intention was good but it’s going wrong and context isn’t being taken into account.

“If this carries on, people are going to walk away and things will get so much worse.”

The report says pupils are happy and safe at the school, and that staff work hard and are committed to improving the quality of education for pupils.But it says teaching staff do not consistently have the knowledge they need for all the subjects they teach, leading to gaps in students’ knowledge. Inspectors say leaders and staff have made a positive difference in English and maths in key stage 2, but that other crucial aspects, including phonics and pupils’ outcomes in key stage 1, have not seen enough improvement.

The report also says that parents’ views of the school are mixed, with some parents feeling that their views are not listened to, and that leaders have more work to do to build relationships with parents and involve them in their child’s education.

It also says that governors do not hold leaders to account effectively, which has meant that some priorities have not been identified and acted on with enough urgency.