Wheatley Park school progressing well (From Oxford Mail)

Wheatley Park school progressing well

3:24pm Friday 12th March 2010 in

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THE headteacher of an Oxfordshire school placed in special measures has thanked parents and pupils for rallying behind the school.

Kate Curtis’ comments followed the first monitoring inspection at Wheatley Park School, Holton, since the original Ofsted judgement of ‘inadequate’ in October.

The school was deemed to have made “satisfactory” progress in all areas, and good progress in safeguarding, at the monitoring inspection a month ago.

The results of the inspection have just been made public.

Ms Curtis said: “We are very grateful for all the support we have had, not only from parents and students but also from people outside the school in the wider community.”

Ofsted inspector Peter Limm said the school’s actions were beginning to have a positive effect and improvement had been made to boost pupils’ rate of progress.

Behaviour was among the things criticised in the original inspection, and Mr Limm said initiatives to improve behaviour had led to fewer pupils being sent out of lessons. However, he highlighted that not all the improvements were effective in every lesson.

Ms Curtis said: “The majority of teaching observed was good or better.

“We took all the appropriate actions in terms of establishing systems.

“Our next priority is to make sure they are applied consistently across the school.

“It is the first step on the journey and there is more to do, but we are confident about the actions we have taken and satisfactory progress is a good outcome at this stage.”

Pupil Tom Armitstead, 14, from Littlemore, said: “I have noticed there is generally a better learning atmosphere.”

The school will be inspected again in the next four to six months.

Ms Curtis has pledged to bring the school out of special measures by the end of 2010, a timetable which Mr Limm said was “realistic”.