THE head teacher of Tudor Grange Academy has given a robust response to the school’s latest Ofsted report which said it ‘Needed Improvement’.
Principal Jodie Bolter said the school’s new management team, in place only since September 2016, had already recognised areas where the school needed improvement but hadn’t yet had time to carry these through to their conclusion.
“While we are naturally disappointed with the result of the inspection, we are pleased they recognised we have a clear plan in place and are improving,” said Ms Bolter.
“The new leadership team has made an impact and clearly identified the areas the school needs to improve but has not yet had sufficient time to implement all of these. We have already included Ofsted’s recommendations in our plan and are confident we will continue to improve at pace.”
The inspection team visited on June 5-6, and found the quality of teaching inconsistent, teachers’ expectations of pupils often low, and both pupil behaviour and attendance rates needed to improve.
However, they praised the school’s performance in mathematics, where the school is in the top 10 per cent in the country, and welcomed news that teaching methods used in that subject are being introduced into English classes too.
In other areas like humanities and modern languages, the school struggles, despite inspectors praising progress in a German class they witnessed.
They also praised the school’s commitment to pupil development and welfare, although noted the percentage of pupils who are not in education, employment and training at the end of Year 11 is below the national average.
A move to more vocational courses in the sixth form, however, has proved successful and these are to be expanded.
Tudor Grange Academy has gone through difficult times since it pioneered the introduction of two-tier education into Redditch’s three-tier system.
Parents voted with their feet and last year the school was forced to cancel its Year 7 intake because pupil take-up was so low.
However, with a stable management team now in place, the school says it is already on track to improve across the board.
