Chatham and Clarendon Grammar School has hit back at “inconsistent’ findings by Ofsted inspectors that have resulted in the school being graded overall as Inadequate.
Ofsted inspected the Ramsgate grammar in March and awarded good gradings for quality of education, behaviour and attitudes and Sixth Form provision but inadequate gradings for personal development and leadership and management. This led to an overall grading of Inadequate.
The school’s previous grading from an inspection in 2014 was Good and this was retained after a short inspection in 2018.
Ofsted concerns
Ofsted’s main areas of concern were pupils being taught in single-sex classes in all subjects for key stage 3 and in single-sex classes for core subjects in key stage 4.
Inspectors said the practice amounts to “unlawful discrimination of pupils on the grounds of their sex.”
Inspectors said leaders, including trustees, have not understood their obligations under the Equality Act 2010 not to discriminate against pupils due to their sex.
Ofsted also says the school has been insufficient oversight of safeguarding around the recruitment of staff, adding: “This has created a culture that puts pupils at risk,” and that Trustees have not consulted parents about recent changes to the curriculum in RSHE.
Inspectors also noted: “Attendance is good for most pupils; however, there are groups of pupils, for example Year 10 girls, who do not attend school regularly enough. The school has not recognised that it is often the most vulnerable pupils who have poor attendance. As a result, not enough action has been taken to support these pupils to attend school more frequently. “
However, the report also outlined:
- There are high expectations for what children can achieve.
- Pupils behave very well around the school and in lessons.
- The school has created a suitably ambitious curriculum for pupils that covers a breadth of academic subjects. This leads to pupils achieving highly from their strong starting points.
- Pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities are well supported in lessons and through specific interventions.
- Teachers are highly knowledgeable about the subjects that they teach, and they use this knowledge to communicate well with pupils.
- The school provides pupils with many opportunities to develop their interests further through a well-thought-through package of clubs and other extra-curricular activities
Chatham and Clarendon Grammar School has sought for the final report to be changed so it is “a fair reflection” of what the inspection team saw, but says: “After a lengthy process it is now time to solely focus on what matters most – the education and wellbeing of students.”
‘Inconsistent’ and ‘unfounded’
Headteacher Debra Liddicoat said: “There is much our school can be proud of in this report. The Inspectors initially found that we were Good in four of the five judgement areas that we were inspected against, and they praised our students and staff for our collective achievements and successes.
“(Their) comments are brought to life by our recent examination results where we saw the number of A* and As at A Level increase by nearly 50% and nearly half of all GCSEs sat secured a 7 or above – which is up by nearly a third on the previous year. Our maths results were also amongst the strongest in recent memory. At every level there is evidence that our caring culture and academic approach work.
“However, the inspection was not an easy process and we felt that some of the conclusions that Inspectors reached were inconsistent, unfounded and show a lack of understanding about the legal and operational context in which we operate.
“For example, we teach using something very similar to the diamond model. This is where girls and boys are initially taught separately, and then come together in stages until they learn together at A Level. This structure was completely misunderstood by the Inspection Team as they felt it breached the 2010 Equality Act.
“We are not alone in using this structure, and other similar schools have been inspected by Ofsted and the Independent Schools Inspectorate and it was not raised as an issue. In fact, we have also been inspected on several occasions since the Equality Act came into force – and Inspectors have previously said that our approach “promotes equality of opportunity very effectively”.
“In addition, we were criticised for not consulting on changes to our RSHE Curriculum – despite the fact we haven’t actually changed the content of what is being taught. We also feel that some of their conclusions on safeguarding and attendance overlooked the evidence that was presented to them.”
Personal Development was downgraded from Good to Inadequate during the Ofsted review process, which was the same grade the Inspection Team gave the school for Leadership and Management. As Leadership and Management is what is known as a limiting judgement, the school was graded as Inadequate overall.
‘Deeply saddened’
The school’s chair of trustees, John Waker, said: “We do not want to come across as defensive or dismissive. If there are legitimate concerns, then we accept them and we will act on them. In this case, however, we were deeply saddened by the approaches taken by the inspection team and feel that the overall judgements are not a fair reflection of our school and fundamentally at odds with the evidence they saw.
“The time since the Ofsted inspection has been one of immense frustration for us. We have continually fought for our school and our community and have followed every avenue that is available to try and ensure that a fairer report is available for parents. However, at each stage we have been met with a lack of willingness to review evidence and positively engage with us.
“We will continue to take our battle forward, but now we need to get back to what matters most – the education and wellbeing of our students.”
Ofsted has been through some significant changes since the inspection. The school’s inspectorate has now scrapped one-word judgements, changed the approach to inspections and redesigning the complaints process.
Mr Waker added: “While we very much welcome anything that helps other schools to avoid the issues we have faced, these changes are too little too late for our school.”
Next steps
In a letter to parents, the school has outlined that Inadequate judgement grading means there is a process that the Department for Education will now follow.
This will start with a Termination Warning Notice, that states that if the school doesn’t take effective action then it may be required to join a Multi-Academy Trust.
Mr Waker said: “We have already developed an Action Plan and have been working through this while the complaints process has been ongoing. Where appropriate, changes have been made and we will always look at how best we can enhance our school. Ofsted will also be returning for monitoring visits in the near future.
“Once we have fully understood what the next steps are after further discussions with Ofsted and the Department for Education, we will be communicating with our community regularly about how we are moving forward as a school.”
Ms Liddicoat added: “We are sorry to have to start the year on the news about our Ofsted report. Ofsted is, however, just one measure by which to judge a school. For us, what is truly heartening, is seeing day-in and day-out what our students achieve and watching them become the remarkable young people that they are.
“Please be assured that we will do whatever is needed to continue to be the very best school for the community that we are proud to serve.”
The report is due to be published on the Ofsted website shortly
