Town school just outstanding
by Hayley Robinson
Staff and pupils are celebrating after their school was
rated “outstanding” by Ofsted.
Westlands has received the highest overall accolade a school can
get under the watchdog’s new inspection guidelines.
The body’s previous 27 judgements have been cut down to just
four main key areas: Achievement of pupils; quality of teaching;
behaviour and safety of pupils and leadership and management.
The changes, which came into force earlier this year, were made
to simplify the process and make it easier for schools to keep
track of progress.
A summary of the report said: “The executive head teacher [Jon
Whitcombe] is relentless in his drive to ensure students
succeed.
“He sets exacting standards for all and will settle for nothing
but the best.
“Leaders at all levels are passionate about the difference they
can make.
“GCSE results have risen from way below to above average since
2009.
“Students’ behaviour is outstanding. Teaching is
outstanding.
“The governing body and trustees have an excellent understanding
of the school. The sixth form is good and rapidly improving.”
The school’s senior management team decided to share the good
news by posting a copy of the report to every students’ home last
Thursday.
Head of school Simon Cox said: “There are some fantastic
comments made by Ofsted throughout the report.
“I would like to thank the teachers, support staff, parents, and
governors for their hard work and support over recent years.
“The staff were determined to do well during the two days of the
inspection.
“However, most praise should be reserved for the pupils
themselves, who approached the inspection with an attitude of
wanting to show the inspectors that Westlands is a great school of
which to be a part.”
To improve further, the school has been asked to raise the
quality of teaching in more lessons from good to outstanding by
making sure teachers adapt tasks to match all pupils’
abilities.
It has also been suggested that staff make use of data from
schools nationwide to further improve all subjects in the sixth
form.
To see the full report, visit www.ofsted.gov.uk
20/11/12
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