Wallington school gets scathing Ofsted report (From Your Local Guardian)

Carew Manor School in Wallington gets scathing Ofsted report

6:30am Friday 14th September 2012 in Top Stories By James Pepper

A school has been told it must improve after receiving a scathing report from Ofsted.

Carew Manor School in Church Lane, Wallington, is a large special school for pupils with moderate learning difficulties and autistic spectrum conditions.

A team of Ofsted inspectors visited the school in June and found teaching at the school to be "inadequate".

The inspectors reported back to Ofsted that teaching "too often did not promote high enough expectations of pupils."

The report, which was released on Tuesday, said: "Significant proportions of pupils do not make sufficient progress and pupils' achievement is inadequate. This is because the quality of teaching over time is inconsistent and too much remains inadequate.

In the five categories which the inspectors looked at, overall effectiveness, achievement of pupils, quality of teaching, behaviour and safety of pupils, and leadership and management, in the first three it was deemed "inadequate".

In the months leading up to the inspection, a new headmaster was appointed at the school, and according to the report, there are green shoots of improvement.

It said: "Teaching in the school has started to improve, however, with some good teaching that is having a positive impact on pupils' progress, but this is not being used to spread best practice."

The school has been issued with a notice to improve, which means Ofsted will continue to monitor the school until it sees improvements.

Dave Callaghan, chairman of the children, family and education committee said: "Our main concern is about ensuring the children at Carew Manor School receive an excellent education."

"When the borough does so well overall, it is very disappointing that one of our schools has been given a notice to improve.

"Since the Ofsted inspection of Carew Manor School in June, a series of important changes have been made.

"The staff, governors, council, Department for Education and inspectorate are working together to drive up standards.

We are making progress and we are also pleased that the inspectors recognised the good behaviour and excellent attitude of the pupils at the school."