An Ofsted inspection of Bitterne Park secondary school which took place last month has again returned an overall one-word rating of ‘Good’.
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The school received its ‘Good’ rating in all five of the main inspection categories, which comprise the quality of education, behaviour and attitudes, personal development, leadership and management, sixth form provision.
As reported, the school’s previous full inspection, carried out in November 2017 shortly after the school moved into its new school building and under the leadership of then new headteacher also returned a ‘good’ rating.
In its latest report, the schools watchdog said pupils describe the school as a ‘close community’ where ‘teachers really care for us’.
Inspectors also noted that “Pupils with autism in the ‘ARB’ specially resourced provision for pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities (specially resourced provision) thrive emotionally, socially and academically.”
They added that significant improvements to the school have been made by leaders, which are “helping pupils get back on track after the pandemic”. But it was noted that expectations for pupils’ writing, spelling and punctuation are sometimes “not as high as they could be”.
Improvements to pupils’ behaviours have been made since the last inspection, however, and “the school is doing much to help pupils attend school more regularly”.
It was noted that careers education in the sixth form is particularly strong, with all students supported to identify their next steps.
The full Ofsted report is here.
Ofsted’s one-word judgements have proved controversial, particularly in the case of head teacher Ruth Perry who took her own life after her Reading primary school was downgraded, but the current government said the system should stay.