Analysis of Kent & Medway OFSTED results, following damning Report from Inspectorate

Tuesday, 04 December 2012 00:00

Analysis of Kent & Medway OFSTED results, following damning Report from Inspectorate

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The Annual OFSTED Report from Her Majesty's Chief Inspector of Education, published last week, contains damning statistics on the state of Kent and Medway’s Primary schools for the year ended August 2012, which has rightly attracted considerable media criticism. I was on holiday in France and so unable to make a closer examination of the figures, which I have now completed, and somewhat to my surprise this analysis shows a much rosier picture. I have been collecting data on all OFSTED Inspections in Kent and Medway for nearly three years, and the primary figures up until August are as follows. All figures are given as percentages:

Comparison of OFSTED Reports for Kent & Medway Primary Schools, against national figures by percentage
	Outstanding	Good	Satisfactory	Inadequate
Kent	6	35	45	13
Medway	0	34	44	22
National	14	49	32	6

In fact the figures over three years together are far worse than the comparable data for 2011-12, showing that in both authorities, the last year has actually seen considerable improvement, albeit from a very low base.

Nevertheless, with Kent 10^th from bottom in the whole country, with just 55% of primary school Inspections being Good or Outstanding for 2011-12, and Medway immediately behind at 54%, this improvement is nowhere near good enough, and reveals years of underachievement by schools in both Local Authorities.

These facts I knew, but because of personal circumstances have not been able to record OFSTED Inspections since September. However, this report has spurred me to do so, and I will over the next month incorporate them into the relevant pages on the website, at Kent & Medway. What the figures show is a much improved state of affairs in Kent, but no changed conclusions for Medway, because of the small number of new schools inspected........

In the meantime, here is a summary of the full set of Primary school OFSTED Reports for Kent and Medway since September, also showing change from the previous Inspection. These new Inspection outcomes operate on a different set of awards from in previous years, with the old ‘Satisfactory’ being changed to ‘Requires Improvement’.

Kent:

School	Town	Grade	Change
Sheldwich	Faversham	Outstanding	Up one
Cobham Primary	Gravesham	Outstanding	Up one
Kingsnorth CofE	Ashford	Good	Up one
Brookfield Junior	Aylesford	Good	Up one
Bean	Dartford	Good	Up one
Gateway Community	Dartford	Good	Up one
Worth	Deal	Good	Up one
Capel-le-Ferne	Folkestone	Good	Up one
Shears Green Junior	Gravesham	Good	Up one
Shorne Cof E	Gravesham	Good	Up one
Bobbing Village	Sittingbourne	Good	Up one
Canterbury Road	Sittingbourne	Good	Up one
Iwade Community	Sittingbourne	Good	Up one
Hildenborough CofE	Tonbridge	Good	Up one
Snodland CofE	Snodland	Good	No change
Holy Family RC	Maidstone	Requires Improvement	Up one
The Brent	Dartford	Requires Improvement	No change
Warden House	Deal	Requires Improvement	No change
St Richard’s Catholic	Dover	Requires Improvement	No change
St Mary of Charity	Faversham	Requires Improvement	No change
Greenfields	Maidstone	Requires Improvement	No change
North Borough Junior	Maidstone	Requires Improvement	No change
High Firs Primary	Swanley	Requires Improvement	No change
St Stephens	Tonbridge	Requires Improvement	No change
Aylesford Primary	Aylesford	Special Measures	Down one
Cage Green	Tonbridge	Special Measures	Down one

Not only does this show further improvement in Grades to 58%, closer to last year’s national average of 60%, what is more remarkable is that 58% of the schools have improved their classification, showing a strong upward trend. Sadly, two more Kent Primary schools have been placed in Special Measures, which means they are likely to be forced to become academies. Although this is still a small sample, there is no reason to think it is atypical. Congtatulations to Cobham Primary School & Sheldwich Primary School on their Outstanding awards.

The improvement is underlined by a parallel advance in Key Stage Two results, with 78% of Kent children achieving national target of Level 4 in maths and English in 2012, compared with 74% in 2011. Whilst still just below the national average of 79% and so there is much to be done, it underlines the sense that Kent has at last awakened to what schools and children need, and results are coming, as KCC implements its new policies, described in the document “Delivering Bold Steps in Kent”, published in May.

Medway

Meanwhile in Medway, the picture for the same period is as follows:

School	Town	Grade	Change
Maundene	Chatham	Good	No change
Brompton-Westbrook Primary	Gillingham	Good	Up one
Deanwood	Gillingham	Good	Up one
Twydall	Gillingham	Good	1^st Insp Academy
High Halstow	Hoo	Requires Improvement	1^st Insp Academy
Temple Mill	Strood	Requires Improvement	No change
Sherwin Knight Infant	Strood	Requires Improvement	No change
St Mary’s Island	Chatham	Special Measures	Down one

Although too small a sample to draw conclusions, this table is noteworthy for two reasons. Firstly, it continues the disgraceful situation that NO Medway primary school from the 65 OFSTED Inspections I have logged has been found Outstanding by OFSTED. a shocking statistic (Kent has 19 over the same period). Secondly, the failure of Medway Council, and possible more importantly the governors of St Mary’s Island CofE Voluntary Aided School, the school with the most prosperous hinterland in the whole of Medway, who allowed it to fall into Special Measures. I have had clients at the school over each of the past four years and have been shocked by the reports I have received. If I could see this from a distance, why did no-one in authority observe and take action on the same? Hopefully, Barbara Peacock, the new director in Medway will be able to bring about similar changes to those being undertaken in Kent. It is a colossal task, but this time the Council’s Report on Low Standards in Primary Schools appears to offer little hope that the Council understands what to do about its problems. You can read my comments on the Report here.

Last modified on Sunday, 16 March 2014 17:17

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