Cowplain school celebrates its '˜Good' Ofsted success

The Cowplain School was inspected at the end of the summer term and in a report published by the education watchdog this month, headteacher Ian Gates was praised for his '˜principled and aspirational leadership'.

The report, addressed to Mr Gates, reads: '˜Your leadership has ensured pupils benefit from a well-rounded education and strong pastoral care, despite financial pressures.

'˜A clearly understood set of values underpin the work of the school.

'˜They provide clear direction and encourage pupils to develop positive attitudes to their learning and form strong relationships with teachers and peers.

'˜Staff feel valued and empowered. Those who met with inspectors, and/or completed the staff survey, were remarkably positive about the school.'

At the last inspection in 2015 the school was rated Good. Since then, the outcomes pupils achieve in their GCSE exams have steadily improved.

 Mr Gates said: '˜We are very proud of what is an extremely good report that reflects the hard work of students, teachers and parents since the last inspection.

'˜The inspection team confirmed our belief that all students are treated as individuals and that we work very hard to enable each young person to achieve as highly as possible.'

The school was noted for tackling the fact some pupils do not achieve the same standards  in some of their GCSE subject choices as they do in their core subjects, and praised for already having an impact on pupils in this respect. 

The report added: '˜The curriculum provides a high level of challenge for all pupils and ensures that they are well prepared for the next steps in their education.

'˜Pupils feel they are listened to and that their opinions are valued. Many take part in leadership activities.'

Ofsted said the next steps for the school are for leaders to ensure disadvantaged pupils, particularly boys, make rapid progress so the gap between their attainment and that of other pupils diminishes further.

Click here to view the full report.