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Schools perform well in Ofsted inspections
SCHOOLS in Northumberland are performing well although four are still below where they should be, latest figures have revealed.
Around 80 per cent of schools in the county have been judged as good (20 schools) or outstanding (seven schools) by Ofsted officials, with that figure above the national average for an authority.
The seven outstanding schools are:- Cramlington Learning Village, Ponteland Middle, Darras Hall First, Wylam First, Blyth South Beach First, Belsay First, and Hipsburn First.
But the inspections have shown there are four schools judged as 'inadequate'.
Cramlington Cragside Primary School has been placed in special measures by Ofsted following concerns about leadership, management, teaching and learning.
And Blyth St Andrew's First, Coquet High and Allendale Middle schools have all been given notice to improve.
Members of Northumberland County Council's family and children's service overview and scrutiny committee were given an overview of the position from September 2008 to March 2009.
As well as the high number of good performing schools, there was other good news with West Sleekburn Middle School being recently removed from the special measure category while Blyth Horton Grange First School is on track to be removed from the category by November.
The committee was told that each school has a school improvement partner attached for five days, who helps compile and then go through the reports.
Tony Mays, head of learning and development for 0-19 service, said: "The reports go to myself and my team and we use that to identify schools that need additional support."
But Coun Paul Kelly raised concerns over the current system for gathering information, saying there was a chance for surprises to pop up.
He said: "I believe we've got a water tight system where monitoring by school improvement partner is so comprehensive then nothing is going to get in under the radar.
"However, it has been said to me by practising teachers and union representatives that the school improvement partner contacts the headteacher almost exclusively and doesn't have contact with normal members of staff who may be able to inform them if there is something about to become rotten.
"Are we covering all bases here as in recent months we've had one surprise where we didn't expect to have a school as weak as it made out to be."
Coun Lesley Rickerby, executive member for children's services, appealed for more people to consider getting involved in helping schools.
"One has to recognise in attracting school governors can be fraught with problems, in particular extra responsibility," she said.
"Please try and encourage people to become school governors, it's a really worthwhile avenue to go down."
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Weather for Blyth
Sunday 05 February 2012
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