Sandown Bay Academy has received its first report since going into Special Measures in March 2013.
HM’s Inspector, Alan Taylor-Bennett, re-visited the secondary school at the end of April, meeting with the Principal, Shaheen Khan-Jones (pictured) as well as other senior staff, the national director of education of Academies Enterprise Trust (AET) and a representative from the governing body.
Mr Taylor-Bennett found the Academy to have
“Responded positively to the concerns raised in the last inspection.”
Of note, he states
- Some teaching has improved as a result of well-targeted intervention, training and mentoring
- Students’ attendance is improving
- Greater involvement of parents and carers, staff and students in measures designed to reduce bullying is beginning to make a difference
- There are improved systems to measure and analyse the achievement of students
- Better academy-wide approaches to lesson planning are enabling teachers to understand the vital importance of making sure that students of different abilities are given appropriate work in every lesson
Anticipation of improved GCSE results
By analysing the current achievements of pupils, the Inspector says the academy is “on course to improve GCSE examination results in 2013.”
The Inspector points out that the Academy’s contact with the local authority has been infrequent. Its support this year has been limited to the alternative provision for the few students with severe behavioural needs.
Training support from AET
The Academy’s sponsor, AET, has given the academy useful support, the Inspector says, in addressing weaknesses in teaching in English and mathematics, and by providing whole-academy training.
He added that “good systems from AET, for example in monitoring and analysing teaching quality, have been adopted by the academy successfully.”
The report concludes that the academy’s improvement plan is not fit for purpose yet and that it will be scrutinised during the second visit.
Update 23.5.13
Following publication of our report, John Gansler, Chair of Governors at Sandown Bay Academy told OnTheWight,
“Many thanks for your item concerning our post OFSTED monitoring inspection in which you report the progress against key issues identified by the inspector, Alan Taylor- Bennett, namely in the quality of teaching and learning, the improvement in attendance and in measures taken to improve measures for dealing with bullying.
“Can I however clarify one issue highlighted in your article. When the Inspector referred to the Academy improvement Plan as “not fit for purpose”, he was referring, not to the content of the plan, which is extensive and already having a significant impact, but to the fact that all the elements of our improvement plan were not at that point in one central document, easily accessible by all stakeholders, including OFSTED, for monitoring purposes. This is an easily rectifiable issue that we have already addressed.”
