School determined to 'bounce back' after disappointing Ofsted rating

The Angmering School underwent a two-day inspection which saw its rating drop from ‘good’ to ‘requires improvement’.

The findings of inspector Christopher Lee were published on March 21, in which he said too many pupils had not made the progress expected of them.

Mr Lee also said targets had not been set high enough to enable the children to match the achievements of youngsters nationally.

However, he praised the work of the school’s new headteacher, Simon Liley, who took up his post last year and took “swift action” to raise expectations.

Mr Lee said Mr Liley’s influence had ensured improvements were made in the quality of teaching and had led to pupils making better progress.

Work to raise the children’s literacy levels was seen to be reaping rewards, with the peer-paired reading scheme singled out for praise. The scheme sees Year 9 pupils mentor those in Year 7. One child told inspectors: “Without my Year 9 pupil I would not be reading this well, he really pushes me.”

Mr Liley said Mr Lee’s report gave him and his team “a clear focus for our continued development”.

He was pleased Ofsted’s report recognised the strengths of his students, such as their behaviour, and also the ‘good’ rating received by the sixth-form.

Mr Liley added: “Naturally the whole school community was disappointed with the overall judgment of requiring improvement but we were already working on some of the areas identified by Ofsted and have a robust action plan to ensure further progress.

“We are confident we can rapidly bounce back to good and better and thank all of our staff, students and parents for their continued support.”

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