News
School’s dispute after poor Ofsted rating
AMAIDSTONEschool branded as requiring improvement has launched an official complaint against Ofsted. Brunswick House Primary School
in Leafy Lane was graded good in four out of five categories.However, in spite of earning praise from the government inspector for the behav- iour of pupils and the effectiveness of teaching, issues with its leader- ship resulted in the lower grade overall. HeadWendy Skinner is unhappy
about the ruling and theway the in- spectionwas conducted. One of the criticisms noted by the inspector read: “Some aspects of the arrangements for safeguarding are effective, but there are areas in need of improvement. Leaders and gov- ernors have not ensured that staff are fully up to date with information about keeping children safe.” But Mrs Skinner maintained: “The
main area of concern highlighted by the inspector related to new statu- tory guidance on female genital mu- tilation and child sexual exploitation and the fact that records were not being systematically catalogued.
Ofsted rated Brunswick House Primary School as requiring improvement “The inspector was not satisfied
with the fact thatwe have instructed our staff to read and take note of the Keeping Children Safe in Education 2015 document. “The school achieved a good rat-
ing in four of the five categories, but the ‘requires improvement’ rating for leadership and management au- tomatically results in a similar over- all assessment. This is not what we or the local authority believe the school to be. She also said a “review of leader-
ship and management” referred to in the report was actually commis- sioned by the governors, and not the local authority, as suggested. Mrs Skinner added: “Thiswas be-
causewewanted to benchmark our- selves against best practice in mov- ing the school to the next level of outstanding, and not because there were any concerns about the leader- ship and governance of the school. “We shared this openly with the inspection team, and it is disap- pointing that they have incorrectly attributed this in their report. “Because of our dissatisfaction
with the report,we have submitted a formal complaint to Ofsted and will announce the outcome in due course.” She thanked parentswhospoke in person to Ofsted to highlight the strengths and successes of the school.
downsmail.co.uk Rubbish ideas
are called for MAIDSTONE’S Mall shopping cen- tre is on the hunt for a “rubbish” de- sign. To reinforce the importance of
being environmentally friendly, the Mall is inviting schoolchildren aged 15 and under to decorate their waste bins. The winning design will come to life of World Environ- mental Day, June 5. The winning pupil will win a
brand new bike, plus £350 cash prize for his or her school. The Mall is looking for designs
that are creative, fun and encour- age shoppers to use the bins more frequently. Suzie Brindle, marketing man-
ager at The Mall, said: “We really care about the environment and be- lieve small things make a big dif- ference. With the help of our younger shoppers and local schools,we hope to find a fantastic eye-catching design for our bins to encourage their use in-centre!” Young shoppers have until Thursday May 12 to enter their de- signs, which can be created digi- tally or hand drawn, on The Mall’s template available from their web- site. Point in-centre, posted to The Mall
or emailed to
suzie.brindle@
themall.co.uk. Info at
www.themall.co.uk/Maidstone
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