This in from Isle of Wight council, in their own words – Ed.
School improvement arrangements on the Isle of Wight have been praised by Ofsted following a recent inspection.
Services which were found to be inadequate in June 2013 have now been judged as ‘effective’ after a rigorous inspection which took place between 23 and 27 June this year.
Inspectors praised the partnership between the Isle of Wight Council and Hampshire County Council, especially the close working between elected members and senior officers which has resulted in strong leadership and established ‘a clear, coherent strategy for improvement which is understood and supported by all schools, including academies’.
Rapid progress
Since the partnership with Hampshire County Council began in July 2013, rapid progress has been made in school improvement which is showing positive results:
The predicted results for 11 and 16 year olds in 2014 show clear improvements since the last inspection and are moving closer to the national averages for 2013.
The proportion of primary schools judged as good by Ofsted is now in line with the national average.
In all schools that were identified as requiring intensive support from the council, the quality and teaching and pupils’ outcomes have improved.
There has been significant improvements in attendance for both primary and secondary.
Positive relationship with schools
The report highlights the authority’s positive relationship with schools, which it says is a significant contributor to the recent improvements.
The report says:
‘The headteachers who spoke to inspectors were of the unanimous view that local authority officers are skilful, credible, have the appropriate expertise and are successful in striking the right balance between challenge and support.’
An important part of the improvement work has been to gather reliable pupil performance data from schools in order to identify schools most in need of support. The report says the authority has ‘established a coherent and well-understood system for identifying and intervening in schools that are causing concern or require improvement’ and plans for improvement are ‘clear, ambitious and firmly based on a detailed analysis of local circumstances and national priorities’.
Key priorities
Improving educational attainment is a key priority for the council and it has shown its commitment to school improvement by allocating additional funding to this area.
The lead member for member for children’s services, Councillor Richard Priest, was praised for his ‘passion, commitment and ambition to spearhead the raising of educational standards on the Island’. The report goes on to say ‘he has an accurate understanding of strengths and weaknesses of schools across the authority’ and ‘provides sensitive and clear leadership and works effectively with officers’.
Commenting on the report, Councillor Priest said:
“We have made significant progress over the last 12 months and I would like to thank headteachers, teaching and support staff, pupils, parents and governors, as well as officers, for their hard work and continued support as we drive forward the school improvement programme.
“Raising standards in schools is a priority for the administration and thanks to strong leadership on both sides of the Solent we have been able to make swift progress in turning our educational standards around. It has not been an easy journey and there is clearly more work to do, but it is a real boost for everyone involved to receive such an overwhelmingly positive report from Ofsted.”
Update 10.53am:
Cllr Chris Whitehouse, (Newport West) who speaks on education for the Conservative Group of Isle of Wight Councillors says:
“This is a very encouraging report and demonstrates not only the hard work being undertaken in our schools by so many senior leadership teams, but also the wisdom of the Secretary of State in directing the Council to bring on board Hampshire to take responsibility for our education and children’s services.
“Clearly, the education community of the Island has taken several steps in the right direction, but let’s be in no doubt about how far we still have to go to get to a stage where all our schools are providing a good or better education.
“I also had a very constructive meeting yesterday with the Chief Executive of the Ormiston Academies Trust to discuss how they plan to drive forward further improvements at Cowes Enterprise College. I very much welcome their involvement with Island education.”
The full report
Image: Simon Haytack under CC BY 2.0
