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Malcolm Rose |
Could do better: verdict by inspectors on top school
Teachers at William Ellis take heart from optimistic look to future
SCHOOL inspectors have handed a prestigious secondary school one of its worst ever reports and listed a series of possible problem areas.
Staff and governors at William Ellis School in Highgate Road, Highgate, which is grappling with a £500,000 debt, responded to Ofsted’s findings, released this week, by maintaining they are confident that they can turn around its fortunes.
The boys’ school – a favoured choice among government figures living locally and middle class parents in its Hampstead and Highgate catchment area – was rated as “satisfactory”, effectively placing the school in the third tier of Ofsted‘s four-stage scoring system. It is now just one step ahead of being labelled “inadequate”.
It is also a fall from the school’s previous inspection standard of “good” and a long way short of the “outstanding” bracket achieved only by the best schools in the country, including Camden School for Girls in Camden Town.
Inspector Elaine Taylor compiled her report after a two-day inspection at the end March and interviews with staff and governors, raising a series of points of concern, including:
• students get distracted in “mundane, didactic lessons”;
• school resources, including displays, are out of date;
• some of the teaching can be described as “generally uninspiring”;
• pupils experience “inconsistencies” in the marking of their work and feedback from staff;
• teachers are not “making sufficiently high demands on their students” or encouraging them to explore their own ideas.
Remarks for the school’s sixth form were generally better than the rest of the school.
While “satisfactory” is a grade given to many schools, particularly in inner London, it stands out at William Ellis because of the school’s proud history of academic achievement and steady supply line of students heading to Oxbridge.
Former alumni include the writers Toby Young and David Aaronovitch, while former health secretary Patricia Hewitt became embroiled in a double standards row after she overlooked schools closer to her Camden Town home to send her son there.
One of the school’s chief concerns is its financial state, and the New Journal revealed last month how Camden has warned the school’s management that it could lose the right to run it unless the books are balanced.
The Ofsted report notes the school’s debt – exacerbated by a mistake in the accounts when a new boiler system was ordered – but staff are taking heart from the fact that Ms Taylor added into her report optimistic comments about the future.
Her findings said: “There have been several changes which have strengthened the school’s position and mean it now has satisfactory capacity to improve.”
Vernon King, chairman of governors, said: “I am greatly encouraged by the report and its acknowledgement of the work undertaken by the school to address recent challenges. I am confident that with all the measures pending and taken by the school and governors to address these challenges, the school will flourish as a beacon for boys’ education in Camden.”
Staff are also pointing to warm comments about the school, including commendations about the relationships between pupils and staff, and the school’s attempts to improve teaching.
Acting headteacher Malcolm Rose, who replaced former head Richard Tanton earlier this year, said: “We know that with the backing and involvement of parents, the school will continue to prosper, and that the attainment, care and guidance of pupils will remain at the heart of our work.”
Camden’s Conservative education chief Councillor Andrew Mennear said: “This hasn’t come as a bolt from the blue – the issues at the school have been well reported.
“But we are working together with the school to get it back on track and moving in the right direction.” |
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