Ofsted says school in Wellingborough still needs to improve after last inspection

Ofsted said Wrenn Academy required improvement after carrying out an inspection of the school in June last year.

An inspector returned in January for the school’s first monitoring inspection since it was judged as requiring improvement and the subsequent report says the school is not doing enough to make the improvements needed.

The inspection report, which has been published on Ofsted’s website, states: “Senior leaders and the academy trust, The Education Fellowship, are not taking effective action to tackle the areas requiring improvement identified at the last section 5 inspection in order to become a good academy.”

The inspector said about 30 teaching staff have left the academy since the last inspection and been replaced by a mix of permanent and supply staff.

They said the trust had not ensured that senior leaders have developed a structured and systematic approach to the improvement tasks ahead.

Despite predictions that 48 per cent of Year 11 pupils in 2015 would gain five or more A* to C grades, including English and maths, the academy did not reach the Government’s minimum expectation that 40 per cent reach this benchmark.

And it said the pace of improvement in teaching and learning is too slow.

The inspector said: “The challenges faced by the academy are many and complex.

“Managing the high staff turnover has understandably taken a lot of time and management resource.”

Ofsted may carry out further monitoring inspections as well as provide support to the academy until its next section 5 inspection.

And the inspector added: “Because I have serious concerns about the quality of external support and the progress made by the academy, I am recommending to Ofsted’s regional director for the East Midlands that the next section 5 inspection of the academy is brought forward.”

Following the report, a spokesman for The Education Fellowship said: “Everyone associated with the academy continues to work tirelessly to ensure that it continues on its journey of rapid improvement.”

A blog on the school website by headteacher Steve Elliott, published last month, states: “We have some inspirational new staff who have not only settled into life at Wrenn, but making a real difference in and out of the classroom providing our students with a fabulous education.

“We will continue with our recruitment drive to employ the very best teachers, who are committed to Wrenn and willing to join us on our journey to outstanding by raising standards, expectations and aspirations along the way.

“We will continue to do our very best for every student and as an RI [requires improvement] school we aim to make further improvements to raise the bar, to raise the expectations and outcomes for all.

“We are pleased that our next inspection will be brought forward, as we are confident that this year’s results will show we are rapidly improving.”