Inspectors find school improving

Headteacher Paul Blackwell said the Ofsted report, published last week, highlights the major achievements the school has made since its last inspection.

Inspectors rated the school as good in two areas - behaviour and safety of students and leadership and management.

However, two areas the school needs to improve in are achievement of pupils and quality of teaching.

Mr Blackwell said the school was close to attaining good in these areas as well.

He said: “The Ofsted report published on the 14th February 2013 represents a significant step forward in Dinnington Comprehensive School’s improvement journey.”

“It highlights the major progress achieved since our last inspection in 2009 and we are now officially rated as good in two of the four areas; behaviour and safety of students and leadership and management.”

“We came very close to being judged, good, in the remaining two areas and we were told quite clearly by the lead inspector that they could see that the academic performance of students in school now has significantly improved since the last inspection.”

“Nearly three quarters of all lessons observed during the inspection were judged to be good or outstanding.”

“Given the significantly tougher Ofsted Inspection process that started in September 2102 this is a very good achievement and governors, staff and students will now focus on making the school even better.”

In a letter to parents, Mr Blackwell said that the report was ‘much to celebrate’ and also informs the school on areas which need to improve.

The letter said: “Parents, children and the wider community deserve a school that is rated good in all areas by Ofsted and I shall work tirelessly with the governors and staff of the school to ensure that all students receive consistently good teaching, that the current improving rates of progress are maintained and that performance in the Sixth Form moves to better than expected.”

“With your continued support, I know that this is achievable.”

Inspectors visited the school for two days in January and observed 57 lessons.

Their report said the school had many strengths including students who are behave well, few cases of bullying and an effective leader as a headteacher.

It does highlight several areas for improvement including ensuring that teaching is consistently good and improving standards in the sixth form.