College’s improvement praised by government watchdog
A Telford school that featured on the BBC’s list of the Most Improved Schools has been described as a ‘cohesive and harmonious community’ by Ofsted, the government education watchdog.
The Blessed Robert Johnson College in Wellington was also invited to contribute to a national conference on the education of gifted and talented youngsters held last week in London.
Stefani Shedden, Senior National Adviser for Gifted and Talented Education, congratulated the college on its progress and “the national (and well deserved) recognition of being in the top 100 most improved schools in the country.”
In praising the school after a year that saw a significant increase in the college’s GCSE results, inspectors said that its performance was now satisfactory and predicted that a ‘further improvement is in the pipeline.’
The OFSTED inspection on the 665 pupil school took place on January 20 and 21.
The inspection team noted big improvements in the quality of teaching and learning and in particular praised the way in which the college had improved boys’ attainment.
Inspectors recommended that the college could further improve performance by using assessment more effectively in all lessons, developing a timetable that maximises the effectiveness of the curriculum and engaging more effectively with all parents and carers to involve them more with children’s learning.
In the same week that Ofsted praised the college for the way in which it helped its students develop good workplace skills, it has also learned that it has been successful in a £20,000 bid to install state of the art computer aided design equipment.
The college will soon be taking delivery of a 3D scanner and milling machine which will allow students to make industry-standard prototypes from their own designs and models.
One of the students who met with the inspectors was 15 year old Gemma Berrow, who has just been elected as the United Kingdom Youth Parliament representative for Telford and Wrekin.
“After their last visit Ofsted challenged us to improve results for all our students, but especially for boys, and we have done,” said head teacher Robert Hall.
“I am really pleased with the response from everyone at the college. We have been looking at effective teaching styles for boys, and we have had groups of parents and even past students contributing to programs and materials.”
Inspectors also praised the college’s ‘well-established caring ethos’ and the high standards of students’ personal development seen during the inspection.
“We know this is a work in progress,” said Mr Hall, “but we feel that Ofsted has given us the go ahead to push on and make even more progress in the years to come.”
Councillor Stephen Burrell, cabinet member for children and young people, said: “The college’s new rating of satisfactory means that all schools in the borough for the first time under the OFSTED framework are rated at least satisfactory, which is a great testament to the hard work and commitment of all our teaching staff and pupils.
“We won’t rest on our laurels and we know that there is much hard work to still be done but I feel that the borough’s schools are making extremely positive progress.”
