Elmhurst School – working together to ensure improvement
The staff and governors of Elmhurst School are working together with education advisors to bring in changes that will quickly improve standards following Ofsted’s announcement this week that the school is to be placed in special measures.
Interim Executive headteacher, Marcus Faulkner, who is leading the school during the headteacher’s maternity leave, is already using local authority support and the school will be joining a multi-academy trust to bring the school’s curriculum and teaching up to a high standard. This will be backed up by robust monitoring and evaluation to ensure that standards continue to improve and that pupils are able to achieve their best.
The Ofsted inspection identified a number of weaknesses in the curriculum and teaching which meant that the pupils were not gaining the knowledge and skills that the school intended. With the help of local authority advisors and a local multi-academy trust, the school leadership team will not only bring both the curriculum and teaching up to the high standard that we all expect, but ensure that improvements continue into the future.
Mr Faulkner said: “Although the Ofsted result is of course disappointing for the whole school community, we’re taking firm action to ensure that improvements are made as quickly as possible. Our leadership team will be working with Buckinghamshire County Council to implement the recommendations of the report. Together we can address the identified weaknesses in teaching and the curriculum so that learning for our pupils is of the highest quality possible.”
Chair of Governors David Gamble said: “While the governors acknowledge Ofsted’s findings, we mustn’t lose sight of the strengths of the school, such as our strong school community which nurtures and supports the children and keeps them safe.”
Dr Gamble continued: “Buckinghamshire County Council have given us clear guidance on how the school can improve. We’re committed to working with their advisors and a multi-academy trust, who together will provide the skills and experience needed to implement the improvements that will move the school quickly out of special measures. This is very positive, and good news for the whole school community, especially our children.”
The Ofsted report can be viewed on the school’s website athttps://www.elmhurstschool.org/