One in 20 schools in Doncaster ‘stuck’ in a low Ofsted category

More than one in 20 schools in Doncaster is ‘stuck’ in a low Ofsted category, inspectors have revealed.
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It is one of six areas across England where over five per cent of schools have not been judged as ‘good’ by Ofsted since September 2006 and have had at least four full inspections since then.

The national average is two per cent, under half the Doncaster statistic.

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The figures are revealed in the annual report of HM Chief Inspector of Education, Children’s Services and Skills 2018/19.

Children hard at work in schoolChildren hard at work in school
Children hard at work in school

It states: “We know that although these schools may face extremely challenging circumstances, it is possible for them to break free from their cycle of underperformance, particularly with the support of a strong MAT (Multi Agency Trust).

“We are currently working with the DfE to develop proposals to help improve education for children in stuck schools. We are considering how we might seek to diagnose in more detail, and work with those responsible for school improvement more closely, to improve the quality of education that these schools are providing. Subject to funding, we will be looking to pilot our approach in a small number of schools in spring 2020, with a view to a larger number of visits in 2020/21.”

Assistant director for education, skills, culture and heritage at Doncaster Council, Leanne Hornsby, said: “We do have a number of schools in Doncaster who have not achieved a good judgement in an Ofsted inspection for some time, however we know that the majority of these schools’ judgements are historical with many having not been inspected for a number of years, and are awaiting re-inspection.

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“The schools that fall in this category are academies belonging to a range of multi academy trusts, and we are working with them to offer the right balance of support and challenge to help them improve as quickly as possible. Through this positive work, we anticipate more positive judgements with future inspections.

“The report in question provides some very useful insights into the complex difficulties faced by these schools and offers some potential solutions that we will consider in future discussions with individual academies and multi academy trusts.”