Inspection delight at The Deepings School as positive changes are noted

A secondary school head has expressed his delight after an inspection showed his school is ‘taking effective action’ towards turning round its performance rating.

The Deepings School has been told that ‘leaders have systematically addressed all the areas identified as needing improvement at the last inspection’, following the latest monitoring visit from Ofsted.

In the most recent inspection report since the Deeping St James school was told it ‘requires improvement’ in 2017, inspector Deborah Mosley’s has highlighted a number of positive changes.

It reads: “Leaders are determined to improve the school and have not allowed the COVID-19 pandemic to detract from their main purpose of providing a good quality of education and promoting pupils’ safety and well-being.

“The headteacher is well supported by the senior leadership team. Staff understand the school’s priorities and share leaders’ ambition. They have introduced several changes to improve the school.”

The previous inspection in early 2020 had noted that pupil attendance must be improved.The inspector’s repor t states that this has been - and continues to be - addressed by the school and that attendance has improved.

However, the report also states that low-level disruption remains a concern but instances of ‘more serious behaviour’ have reduced and the proportion of fixed-term exclusions has ‘reduced considerably’.

Headteacher Richard Lord says the findings are a testament to the hard work of staff and students.

He said: “We are delighted that the progress that our school has made since the last inspection has been formally recognised. Given the disruption to education since the previous inspection just before lockdown last year, these findings are a testament to the hard work of our staff and students and the support of our parents and carers.

“The school received thirteen targets in January 2020 and to have reduced these to just two areas of focus shows that everyone’s hard work is paying off.

“The fact that this is based not only on the inspector’s first-hand experience of our school but also on over 200 responses from parents and carers, means that we are particularly pleased with the high level of whole community satisfaction this year.

“The responses to the Ofsted Parent View survey have shown a marked upward trajectory since the last inspection and a considerably higher level of satisfaction than during the inspection in 2017.

“The focus areas will be addressed in our 2021/22 school development plan and we anticipate a further full inspection in the 2021/22 academic year.”