Ofsted slams Swindon school system

A scathing attack has been launched by Ofsted against Swindon schools – claiming that children are being failed by its schools at every key stage.

In an open letter, Bradley Simmons HMI South West regional director states: “I am writing to share my deepening concern over the poor performance of Swindon’s schools.”

Mr Simmons accuses Swindon Borough Council of being ‘defensive’ in their response to concerns over education raised with them on ‘at least three different occasions’.

“No key player in Swindon’s schools can be in any doubt of the seriousness of the situation. In short, in 2016, Swindon’s children were failed by its schools at every key stage.

Primary schools, which had previously shown a positive trend, are a cause for concern.

He singles out 2016 phonics outcomes as being some of the poorest in the country, with only 76 per cent of six-year-olds meeting the expected standard – placing Swindon in the bottom of 10 local authorities nationally. And at key stage 1, the town’s seven-year-olds are the joint lowest performers in reading in the South West.

The criticism does not stop there: "At key stage 2, Swindon’s outcomes are amongst the lowest in the country with only 44 per cent of 11-year-olds reaching the new expected standard in reading, writing and mathematics. Only two per cent of pupils reached a higher standard in reading, writing and mathematics compared with five per cent nationally in England."

Children in Swindon’s secondary schools raise similar concerns with their results being below the national expectation across the board.

The letter adds: “It is worrying to see so few pupils at Swindon secondary schools achieving the English Baccalaureate. Just 17.3 per cent of pupils were successful in 2016, which place Swindon in the bottom 20 local authorities in England for this measure.”

Mr Simmons points out that recent inspections of five secondary schools in the town indicate “a trend of decline”.

“While The Ridgeway School and Sixth Form College maintained its good rating, Kingsdown School failed to improve from ‘requires improvement’, The Dorcan Academy and Isambard Community School declined from requires improvement to inadequate.”

The proportion of pupils attending a ‘good’ secondary school in Swindon has now declined from the previous 52 per cent in August 31 2015 to just 47 per cent on September 30 2016.

He also points to the proportion of pupils receiving a fixed term exclusion as being “alarmingly high” in both secondary and special schools – about 10 per cent compared with a national average of 7.5 per cent and 68 per cent in special schools compared to a national figure of 13.5 per cent.

Mr Simmons concludes his letter by urging all involved in leading and supporting these schools to take “immediate action” to bring about rapid and sustained improvements across the authority. He adds that all those involved must ‘act swiftly and in unison’ to ensure that pupils in Swindon have better outcomes and the skills and qualifications to improve their life chances and employment prospects.

Reacting to the criticisms, Ferndale Head teacher Gary Evans – who represents primary school head teachers in Swindon defended primary school results in the town, explaining that Year 6 test results had been in line with the national average until this year.

“Only this year have we seen a change – in writing and science. The rest of the subjects are all in line, so Maths, English and Grammar results are all meeting national expectations.

He added: “We mark these tests ourselves and we have been quite strict about how we have interpreted the marking guidance.”

Mr Evans explained that the government changed the guidelines on how writing was assessed last year and called the latest disappointing results a ‘blip’.

“We have been very strict in the first year at applying these new marking guidelines from the government but other schools around the country may not have been so strict.”

He explained that he would be meeting with other Swindon primary school head teachers on Thursday to discuss the criticisms by Ofsted and the best way to address these concerns.

Read the council's response to the criticisms here.