THE headteacher of Saddleworth School insists he has ‘absolute confidence’ that the school is ‘headed in the right direction’ despite receiving a ‘Requires Improvement’ rating from Ofsted.
The grading was given by inspectors from the education watchdog following a visit to the Diggle-based school in January, having previously rated the school as ‘Good’ at its previous inspection in 2018.
Mike Anderson, who has led the school since 2020, admitted the new rating was ‘disappointing for everyone’ but said the school’s own improvement strategy already reflects the same areas for improvement highlighted by Ofsted.
“We have been urgently working to significantly improve our school since 2020,” he explained.
“Despite the school maintaining its ‘Good’ rating during its monitoring visit in 2018, we were concerned about the decline in standards and student outcomes. We have absolute confidence that we are now headed in the right direction to give all our students the excellent education they deserve.
“The senior leadership team and all our staff are committed to providing the very best education for our pupils and I am grateful to them for the huge improvements we have already made – and will continue to make – to ensure our school becomes the excellent environment for learning that our children deserve.”
Ofsted inspectors acknowledged in their report that the school – which accommodates up to 1,500 pupils after opening at its new £27 million site on Huddersfield Road in March 2022 – is “increasingly ambitious” and has an “aspirational curriculum that is carefully organised and clearly identifies the key building blocks of learning”.
However, the inspectors wrote that “some of the renewed subject curriculums are in the early stages of implementation” and that “in these subjects, the school has not fully addressed the knowledge gaps that pupils have because of weaknesses in the previous curriculums”.
Since 2020, the school has rewritten every curriculum for pupils in Years 7 to 9 and changed its curriculum offer to be broader, more ambitious and to prioritise English literature and English language, maths, the sciences, history and geography and a modern foreign language”.
The Ofsted report found that while the vast majority of pupils are well-behaved and the school is quick to deal with incidents of bullying, some pupils told inspectors that they feel some instances of derogatory language and homophobic comments are not identified by the school consistently well.
Mr Anderson said derogatory language and intolerance of others were “never acceptable”.
He added: “We take this extremely seriously. We have put in place a new personal development programme for pupils, which promotes tolerance, celebrates diversity and explains modern British values.”
The headteacher said a new reporting system for pupils to anonymously report bullying has been set up and anti-bullying ambassadors have been appointed, while staff have been trained on how to deal with derogatory language.
The school is also working towards the White Ribbon Award, which educates boys about the harmful effects of sexism and violence towards girls and women, and the Leeds Beckett Anti-Racist Award.
The inspectors found that while the school had prioritised reading, for example by assessing the reading knowledge of all students in Years 7, 8 and 9 and implementing an effective reading support programme, the school has further progress to make for those in Years 10 and 11.
Mr Anderson said the school was “working hard in this area to ensure that all students become confident and competent readers”.
Ofsted also pointed to an improvement in pupils’ attendance and, although there are still a few who miss lessons despite being in school, inspectors acknowledged that staff provide “appropriate pastoral support for these pupils”.
The headteacher said the school was “doubling efforts to give these pupils extensive support and to set expectations with them so that we improve their attendance.”
