Top school now told to improve by Ofsted

A school that received a glowing report by an education watchdog six years ago has now been told it requires improvement.

Crofton Academy was highly praised during its previous inspection by Ofsted in 2011, picking up the prestigious ‘outsanding’ mark - the highest possible score.

Inspectors said that ‘no child was left behind’ which ‘ensured the success of every single child’.

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By contrast, the most recent visit found every key area now ‘requires improvement’, including teaching, leadership, pupil development and outcomes.

The report reads: “Teaching is now improving, but continues to vary too much across subjects and between classrooms, as a result, current pupils do not make consistently good progress.

“Strategies, led by school leaders, to improve the quality of teaching are not yet consistently effective across all subjects.

“Teaching is not routinely challenging enough, and work is not always sufficiently well matched to the different abilities of the pupils.

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“Some pupils do not take sufficient pride in their work. Tasks are sometimes left incomplete.”

However, headteacher Peter Walker was praised, along with his leadership team in ‘accelerating the pace of improvement’.

The inspectors added: “They have accurately identified weaker areas of the school’s work and are acting decisively to address them.

“Their ambition for the school is palpable. The school is improving strongly.”

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Mr Walker said: “Following our recent Ofsted inspection, I would like to thank the staff and students for all their hard work over the last year.

“We were pleased that the inspection report referenced our accurate assessment of the school’s position and though we accept the inspectors’ judgement of our need to improve, they noted that there is a ‘clear capability for improvement’ and our plans are already underway and having a positive impact.”

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