Parents asked to help failed Ofsted school out of special measures

By Kelly Eve Education reporter

Last updated 11:03, Friday, 26 September 2008

A rallying call has gone out to parents of Cumbria’s only primary school in special measures to help support it through its recovery.

Nick Sutton

It was revealed earlier this week that Oughterside Primary School, outside Aspatria, failed its latest Ofsted inspection and was placed under special measures.

A meeting was held with parents on Wednesday night involving school improvement officers from Cumbria County Council, staff and governors to discuss a plan for improvements. A council spokesman said parents were being invited to join the governing body to help reverse the school’s fortunes. The move comes after parents expressed “widespread dissatisfaction” and told inspectors that they had lost confidence in the school and its ability to improve.

Ofsted inspectors said the school, whose 63 pupils are aged between four and 11, was failing after it uncovered health and safety issues. These included children not being met from the bus and a failure to complete paperwork for Criminal Records Bureau checks.

Immediate action has been taken to rectify the most serious issues and Cumbria County Council is submitting an action plan to Ofsted setting out exactly how it intends to support the school. The foundation school’s leadership, managers and governors were heavily criticised too but now the local education authority (LEA) has appointed a governor development officer to work directly with the board. Governors were failing to meet their statutory responsibilities and need more training.

An LEA spokesman said: “We’ve said we will appoint additional governors. We would like to have more parents on the governing body.”

The school’s failure to meet statutory health and safety standards meant it was automatically at risk of failing the inspection and faced being put into special measures or being served with a notice to improve. Staffing difficulties and changes have also had an adverse effect on education.

Pupils are making inadequate progress with inspectors demanding quick improvements. Standards and attainment in recent years have also seen a decline.

Inspector Kathryn Dodd, in her report, said: “Many parents expressed their concerns either orally or through the inspection questionnaire.

“Nevertheless, pupils say that they enjoy school. Their behaviour is good and they demonstrate mature and sensible attitudes to learning.”

Later she added: “Although the headteacher has recently acknowledged that additional support is required if the school is to improve, the scale and number of improvements needed are extensive.”

In a statement from Cumbria County Council earlier this week, headteacher Nick Sutton said: “We were already addressing many of the issues raised before inspection.

“Since then we’ve been working extensively with the local authority and are pleased with the support being offered. We are working hard to resolve the issues identified so there will be positive outcomes at the earliest opportunity.”

Peter McGaw, the council’s principal school improvement officer, is confident that Oughterside will be out of special measures by the end of the academic year.