Off the Fence with Dame Caroline Dinenage, MP for Gosport

So it was a delight to visit Bay House School in Gosport last week to congratulate staff, academy leaders, pupils and parents for their latest Ofsted rating - a ‘Good’ across the board!

I have seen the effort that has been going on behind the scenes to achieve this result since the disappointing ‘Requires Improvement’ assessment at their last inspection in November 2022.

The right support for schools is vital, because a good education is the closest thing that we have to a silver bullet in improving life outcomes.

But children only get one chance to go through the school system - so it was vital that these improvements were made at pace.

It’s why I convened the first Gosport Secondary Schools Summit in early 2024 to help drive this positive change. I hoped we could replicate the success of our local primary schools; every single infant and junior school across the Gosport Constituency was rated Good or Outstanding by Ofsted, huge progress when you consider only half of them were when I was first elected in 2010.

During my recent visit to Bay House I was told how the partnership with King’s Group Multi-Academy Trust had been key to their swift progress. The multi-academy trust model takes management burdens off teachers so that they can focus on delivering first-rate education.

The Ofsted report released last week pointed to strong attendance in the sixth form, early and efficient SEND recognition, and excellent knowledge sharing among teachers.

But the good news doesn’t end there. Bay House Sixth Form recently received an ALPS Platinum Award in December for coming in the top 10% of the country for student progress.

And a multi-million pound redevelopment of the site is now underway, thanks to funds secured from the previous Conservative Government’s Schools Rebuilding Programme.

I am hopeful that we will soon see similar improvements at Brune Park School, where Kings Group are also now offering support.

However, unfortunately this resurgence in our local Secondary Schools is now overshadowed by worrying developments in Westminster, where the Government are threatening to undermine MAT-driven improvement through the Children’s Wellbeing and Schools Bill.

The MAT system, which started under the last Labour Government and went from strength to strength over the last 14 years of Conservative leadership, has helped deliver impressive progress in global education league tables for the UK, particularly England, which now ranks among the top performing Western countries.

Measures in the Bill will undermine this progress, ultimately delaying and impeding the support which MATs can bring to failing maintained schools. Described by the Conservative Shadow Education Minister as ‘an onslaught on the combination of freedom and accountability that has driven improvement.’

Ultimately it’s our teachers, head teachers and support staff, day in and day out, who transform educational standards and give every child the tools to realise their potential. The Government’s role is to ensure they have the skills, structure and support to do their jobs.