Agenda item

Chris Tomes (Headteacher, Churchmead School) and Simon Evry (Royal Borough Windsor and Maidenhead) summarised the key elements of the improvements made at Churchmead School since OFSTED found it to be inadequate in November 2012.

The Panel noted the following comments:

• That rapid and sustained progress had been made, and recognised by OFSTED who moved the school out of special measures, with a rating of ‘requires improvement’, in December 2013.
• That the GCSE results in the summer 2013 had shown improvement on previous years.
• That the school aspired to be outstanding.

The Panel discussed the following points:

• that there had not been a large turnover of staff at the school, and that therefore the improvements in the quality of teaching had been done with existing staff through a change in culture;
• that the new Headteacher had had a profound impact demonstrated by the rapid improvement at the school, bringing a strategic focus to improvement, teaching and learning; creating a calm, focused and dynamic environment;
• that the school had opened new science labs in the summer 2013, and had just received confirmation of a grant to further improve facilities at the site;
• that consideration of moving to academy status, which had been on hold, would now be explored as part of the ambitious plans for the school going forward.  Such a move would provide an opportunity to draw a line under the historical reputation of the school, rebranding it for the future.  The Panel particularly discussed the impact of such a move on admissions policies and the importance of Churchmead to Slough’s ability to provide sufficient numbers of school places;
• that the school had set a target of 50% A*-C for this year’s GCSE cohort, and a range of interventions were in place to support achievement of this.  In particular, the recent disruption at the school due to the flooding, had been minimised by working with East Berkshire College, who had provided facilities for Year 11.  In addition to this, the schools had looked to identify students at risk of under-achieving, putting in place strategies to improve their standards through specialised, focused revision;
• that the school was working to mobilise parents, and the Parent Forum had been successful in engaging them in the vision for the school with the aim of regaining the confidence of the local community;
• that the school recognised the historical problems with achievement in science, but that results were improving.  Science, along with maths and engineering, were a key focus; and the school would be interested in developing a stronger relationship with local businesses, such as those based on the Trading Estate;
• that the school would also be focusing on improving reading age issues, with a particular emphasis on students engaging in active reading;
• that the attendance record at the school had just tipped up over the threshold that OFSTED would consider to be a ‘good’ rating; and
• that consideration was being given to establishing a shadow Board of Governors, but that the Interim Executive Board had been doing a very good job, with a small focused, dynamic group driving the improvement agenda.

The Panel congratulated Chris Tomes and Simon Evry on the improvements made at Churchmead and thanked them for their time.

Resolved – to continue to monitor progress at Churchmead School, and bring the discussion back to the Panel should the next OFSTED inspection raises any further issues.