Archived decisions

Contact: John Clarke, Assistant County Education Officer, Standards and Improvement Branch, County Office. Tel: 01962 846459, email [email protected] or

Richard Mitchell, Strategic School Improvement Manager, Havant Local Education Office. Tel 023 92 441471, email [email protected]

1 Summary

1.1 Park Community School is one of two secondary schools serving the Leigh Park estate in Havant. This school was placed in special measures by OFSTED in October 1996, removed from special measures in November 1998 and has subsequently improved year upon year.

2 The school and OFSTED

2.1 The OFSTED inspection in October 1996 was critical of many aspects of the work of the school including low standards of attainment, unruly behaviour, low attendance and poor financial planning. Consequently the school was made subject to special measures and further inspections ensued in November 1997, March 1998 and July 1998 to assess the progress it was making to address the key issues. In November 1998, three HMI inspected the school for two days and concluded that the school no longer required special measures because it was then providing an acceptable standard of education for its pupils.

2.2 During the OFSTED inspection in October 1996 the headteacher was absent due to ill-health and the leadership of the school fell to the deputy headteacher. The headteacher subsequently retired and Sean Dickinson was appointed as headteacher in April 1997.

2.3 The school was inspected by OFSTED again in March 2001. The headline from the report was that `Park Community School is a much improved and improving school that is very well led and managed. Its strengths far outweigh its weaknesses. Governors and staff are committed to improving standards and create a positive climate for learning which ensures that pupils aspire to success and are benefiting through the good quality of the teaching.'

2.4 The school has since been visited by two HMI who were inspecting it as a `school in challenging circumstances' and by another two HMI who were inspecting the impact of the Leigh Park Education Action Zone. Both pairs of HMI commented on the highly effective leadership of Sean Dickinson and on the positive learning culture he has instilled in staff and pupils.

3 Standards

3.1 The proportion of pupils gaining level 5 or better in the tests at the end of Key Stage 3:

	1998	1999	2000	2001	2002	2003
English	47.3%	36.8%	41.7%	29.1%	36.5%	43%
Maths	29.1%	41.9%	37.0%	42.3%	49.1%	56%
Science	24.8%	24.4%	26.4%	38.3%	42.5%	55%

3.2 The trend has been upwards in all three core subjects despite the levels of attainment of pupils when they enter the school at age 11, particularly in reading, remaining the same. There is a known difficulty in English attainment which the school is tackling - it is partly linked to a difficulty experienced by this and many other schools in recruiting and retaining suitably qualified teachers.

3.3 GCSE results show a similar rising trend:

	1998	1999	2000	2001	2002	2003
5+A*-C	12.4%	17.4%	17.6%	31.5%	27.9%	52%
5+A*-G	83.2%	76.5%	82.4%	82.1%	91.9%	90%
1+A*-G	88.2%	87.9%	95.9%	93.5%	97.1%	98%

3.4 The school has now reached the point where 159 pupils in a cohort of 162 left last summer with at least one GCSE pass; 146 gained five or more passes and 84 of them gained five or more passes at grades A*-C.

4 Contributing factors

4.1 Apart from the difference made by a headteacher who is firmly focused on improvement and committed to ensuring that every individual pupil receives their entitlement to a high quality of education, there are several other factors that have impacted on this improvement. These include:

4.1.1 The school's membership of the Leigh Park Education Action Zone, which has enabled the headteacher to use extra funding to recruit and retain staff of a high calibre and to modify the curriculum so that it is better suited to the needs of the pupils.

4.1.2 Modification of the curriculum, e.g. the setting aside of modern foreign languages for those pupils who enter the school with low levels of literacy.

4.1.3 The development of a flat leadership structure where a lot of responsibility is devolved to the deputy headteacher and the five assistant headteachers. These assistant headteachers each carry an accountability for teaching and learning alongside other responsibilities.

4.1.4 The emphasis on involvement of as many pupils as possible in the performing arts to build self-esteem and promote team working. This resulted in the school's acquisition of Arts College status, through which they have involved the community in many activities.

4.1.5 The development of rigorous monitoring and evaluation procedures that successfully link targets set for individual pupils to targets set for individual classes and targets set for individual teachers. There is then an accountability for each teacher for the progress made by each individual pupil they teach throughout each academic year.

4.1.6 A strong working relationship between the school and the LEA, with an enhanced level of support from HIAS staff and others such as educational psychologists and Education Personnel Services staff.

Recommendations

1.1 The headteacher, governing body, staff and pupils of Park Community School should be congratulated for their commitment to improvement and to the standards they achieve.

1.2 The good practice operating in Park Community School should be shared across the community of Hampshire schools.

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