Penketh High School first to undergo new Ofsted inspection (From Warrington Guardian)

Penketh High School first to undergo new Ofsted inspection

1:00pm Thursday 4th October 2012 in News

PENKETH High School has become the first in the town to be inspected according to Ofsted’s new guidelines.

The school’s watchdog introduced a more rigorous form of assessment on September 1.

Its key change means that overall inspection scores have been altered.

Penketh High School, in Hall Road, was judged to ‘require improvement’, the equivalent of ‘satisfactory’ in previous inspections.

It does not mean that the school has failed its inspection.

Jeff Hughes, head teacher, said: “No school can ever afford to stand still; we must always seek to improve ourselves for the benefit of our learners.

“We have a clear vision with even greater aspirations for the future.

“Our new Penketh Charter sets out how we will make this happen and this was recognised by the inspection team as encapsulating the school’s ambition to become outstanding.”

Previously, a school would only be graded as needing to improve if it failed an Ofsted inspection.

However, the term ‘satisfactory’ was deemed by Prime Minister David Cameron to encourage schools to coast.

That term has now been changed to ‘requires improvement’.

If a school remains at that grade for three years, it will be judged as ‘inadequate’, the worst score that can be given, and fail its inspection.

The change has been criticised by trade unions officials in the town, who say it will not help to raise standards, but put more pressure on teachers.

Warrington Borough Council says it is focused on helping schools improve, irrespective of how inspections are scored.

Pinaki Ghoshal, assistant director of children and young people’s services, said: “The local authority is confident that the management team is providing purposeful and effective leadership with a clear vision for continuous progress.

“Our aspiration is that all Warrington schools continue to improve so that our young people have the very best education possible."

To read a full copy of the Penketh High School report ofsted.gov.uk.