Kent primary school OFSTED Reports up to Easter show considerable improvement on an already strong position as shown in the summary tables below. Outcomes include 15 schools, a fifth of the 72 inspected, improving their assessment as against just 3 which declined. The proportion of Good or Outstanding Schools inspected is well above the most recent national figure, with seven Outstanding schools. Four schools improved their grading by two levels; Aylesford Primary; Chantry Community Academy and Tymberwood Academy (both in Gravesham), taking them out of Special Measures to Good; and Cliftonville Primary to Outstanding. Two other schools, Pilgrim’s Way Canterbury, and Copperfields Academy also in Gravesham, were taken out of Special Measures. All the last six are academies. By coincidence two of these, Chantry (Greenacre Academy Trust) and Pilgrim’s Way (Village Academy Trust) are advertisers on this website, both Academy Trusts taking over after previous failed conversions, the other four Trusts inheriting their schools directly from KCC control.
You will find a summary of the current position for Kent schools written by Mr Patrick Leeson, Director of Education, here, although it omits the most recent Inspections of schools that have become academies and not been re-inspected, following government practice. The Kent schools affected include 11 who were judged Inadequate in their most recent Inspection.
In Medway, just 8 primary schools were inspected with a slight decline in performance, and still well below national levels. One Medway Primary school was found Outstanding, Cliffe Woods Primary, for the second time. Gordon Children's Academy Junior School improved by two Grades to Good, matching the Infant School which retained its Good status.
The links will take you to further details about individual: Kent Primary Schools;Medway Primary Schools; Kent Secondary Schools; Medway Secondary Schools, although some sections are in process of updating. You will also find summary tables below.
The seven Outstanding schools are: The Brent, Dartford; Cliftonville School, Thanet; Green Park Community and Temple Ewell CofE Primary, both Dover; Loose Primary, Maidstone; Queenborough, Sittingbourne; and Whitstable and Seasalter Endowed CofE. Cliftonville is an Academy, sponsored by The Coastal Academies Trust, converting in 2013. Temple Ewell, an academy sponsored by Aquila, the Anglican Diocese of Canterbury Multi-Academy Trust was placed in Special Measures in 2012 and converted in 2014. The two Loose Schools, Junior and Infant, have had a rocky past, until coming together as one in 2014. Pleasingly, many of these are from socially deprived parts of the county, proving that the suggested correlation between OFSTED outcomes and affluence of neighbourhood is limited.
St Stephen's Primary School in Tonbridge was the only school to be found Inadequate, being placed in Special Measures. The practice of cancelling OFSTED assessments at Academy conversion helps performance records considerably as such schools are not re-inspected for at least three years after conversion. They can have been already as many as five years before conversion without an inspection! For Kent the list of these schools includes 11 recently converted or sponsored primary academies who were found Inadequate in their most recent inspection as county schools and so not counted in Kent’s official figures (Kent has, quote: ‘one school in a category of concern, out of a total of 545 schools that have a current inspection result’). The schools are: Kennington Junior and Beaver Green in Ashford; Knockhall and Westgate in Dartford; St Mary of Charity in Faversham; Istead Rise and Rosherville in Gravesham; Oaks Primary Academy (previously Oak Trees) in Maidstone; Brenzett and St Nicholas CofE (New Romney) in Shepway, and Lansdowne in Swale; There were also eight Outstanding schools not included in the official figures!
| Kent & Medway Primary OFSTED Outcomes Sept 2016 - Easter 2017 | |||||||
| Outstanding | Good | Requires Improvement | Inadequate | Total | Up | Down | |
| Kent | 7 | 58 | 6 | 1 | 72 | 15 | 3 |
| Kent % | 10 | 81 | 8 | 1 | 21 | 4 | |
Kent FS & Academies | 3 | 12 | 2 | 0 | 17 | 8 | 0 |
| Academy % | 17 | 67 | 17 | 0 | 50 | 0 | |
| Medway | 1 | 4 | 2 | 1 | 8 | 1 | 2 |
| Medway % | 13 | 50 | 25 | 13 | 13 | 25 | |
Medway Academies | 1 | 3 | 2 | 0 | 6 | 1 | 1 |
Medway Academies % | 17 | 50 | 33 | 0 | 17 | 17 | 0 |
National % Sep - Dec 16 | 3 | 70 | 21 | 6 | |||
National % 2015-16 | 6 | 71 | 18 | 5 | |||
The OFSTED Inspection Report of Leigh UTC does raise concerns about the quality of some OFSTED Inspections, coming to its very positive comments based on just 102 pupils and shrinking, in Years 10 and 11 as described here. With a Year 10 group of 38 students, presumably split into two groups, and a high student staff ration, it is surprising that OFSTED didn't notice or comment on these falling numbers or the very favourable staffing ratios in coming to its conclusions. I have recently also commented on both Isle of Sheppey Academy here and High Weald here in a recent article.
| Kent & Medway Secondary OFSTED Outcomes Sept 2016 - Easter 2017 | |||||||
| Outstanding | Good | Requires Improvement | Inadequate | Total | Up | Down | |
| Kent Grammar | 0 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 0 |
| Kent Grammar % | 100 | 100 | |||||
| Kent Non-Selective | 0 | 13 | 4 | 0 | 17 | 0 | 0 |
| Non-Selective % | 79 | 21 | |||||
Kent Total | 0 | 16 | 4 | 0 | 20 | 0 | 0 |
| Kent Total % | 82 | 18 | |||||
| Medway | 0 | 3 | 2 | 0 | 5 | 0 | 1 |
| Medway % | 60 | 40 | 0 | 20 | |||
Medway Academies | 0 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 1 |
Medway Academies % | 17 | 50 | 33 | 0 | 25 | ||
National % Sep - Dec 16 | 3 | 47 | 35 | 15 | |||
National % 2015-16 | 5 | 52 | 32 | 12 | |||