Middlesbrough Council - News Forum - Setting a light to the News

A FAILING new school has been judged “inadequate” and placed in special measures following a scathing Ofsted report. Oakfields Community College in Middlesbrough - which opened in September 2010 - has been blasted for failing to give pupils an acceptable standard of education and for not responding to the need for improvements with the urgency required. Senior leaders have also been given inaccurate assessments of students’ work and the school has been over-generous in evaluating its own performance, the report revealed. The management was described as “inadequate” and “not demonstrating the capacity to secure the necessary improvement”. Last week the Gazette reported how Oakfields, which has more than 1,000 pupils, was classed as “below the floor” in school league tables drawn up by the Department for Education.

Indie
11:54 AM on 3/2/2012
The cllr on the governing body is Labour cllr Mike Carr - hand picked by Mr Mallon to be the town's exec cllr with special responsability for children and learning for which he claims an EXTRA £12,400 each year. Was he aware of the school's problems?
Read More http://www.gazettelive.co.uk/news/teess ... z1lLtydmNh

cromwell48
1:22 PM on 3/2/2012
The OFSTED report on Oakfields is more than scathing and this Gazette article does not accurately reflect this. The comments of the Chair of Governors lays the blame on 'legacy issues" and not himself or the leadership of the school yet OFSTED reports:
"... the persons responsible for leading, managing or governing the school are not demonstrating the capacity to secure the necessary improvement."

"... Senior leaders failed to identify or to tackle quickly enough some serious shortcomings."

"... Leadership and management are inadequate."

"...important changes have been made without the speed or urgency required to ensure they make a positive impact on students' outcomes."

"...with the significant shortcomings in the leadership and management of the school means that there is inadequate capacity for sustained improvement."

In other words, OFSTED has reported that all the leaders are simply not good enough. They have not done their job and do not have the capacity to improve the situation.

The leadership of the school is is not just the principal and the governing body but also the Endeavour Trust with its Executive Principal, Mr Ken Fraser. If a local authority school received a similar report the leadership and the governing body would most likely be replaced immediately.

Shouldn't our youngsters be given better than this and those to blame take responsibility rather than blaming others.

Read More http://www.gazettelive.co.uk/news/teess ... -30259111/