A school whose former headteacher railed against Ofsted following an ‘unjust’ report has been praised by the watchdog for taking ‘effective action’ to improve - but also told it still has more to do. Bramhall High School remains rated as ‘requires improvement’ after officials carried out an inspection to monitor how much progress it has made since the last visit nearly three years ago.
Previous headteacher Lynne Fox, slammed Ofsted for its September 2019 report, which said the Seal Road school had not improved enough to be classed as ‘good’ - accusing it of ‘moving the goalposts’ and ‘unjust criticism’. Mrs Fox retired a year earlier than intended as she no longer wished to deal with the watchdog, which she branded ‘a machine you cannot beat’.
The first ‘monitoring inspection’ under new headteacher Paul Williams took place in April and the report was published this month. While it finds that ‘the school continues to require improvement’, it adds that ‘leaders and those responsible for governance are taking effective action toward the school becoming a good school’.
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Ofsted has told the school it should take further steps to enable teachers to ‘check how well pupils have learned the intended knowledge outlined in the curriculum’ - particularly for those in Years 7 to 9.
The report also urges the school to ‘ensure a more rigorous approach to the implementation of the reading curriculum and further develop the quality of help and support for those pupils at the early stages of reading’. However, it is clear that Mr Williams has ‘responded positively and swiftly to address the areas of improvement identified in the previous inspection report'.
“Since your appointment as headteacher, you and other senior leaders have continued to develop further the quality of education for pupils,” the report adds. “Leaders have been adept at identifying appropriate priorities to move the school forward and much of this work is well underway.
"You are clear about those areas that still require further development and you are accepting of support to help you on your journey to becoming a good school.” Governors are also said to ‘continue to maintain a clear oversight of the curriculum, holding senior and subject leaders to account for the quality of education for pupils.’
Responding to the report, Mr Williams said he was ‘very pleased that the school's hard work towards improvement has been acknowledged’. He added: “These visits cannot change the school’s overall grading but we now eagerly await a further, full inspection to confirm we are a good school.”
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