School and city council hit out at critical Ofsted

WREN PARK LEFT DISAPPOINTED AT REPORT, LODGE COMPLAINT BACKED BY AUTHORITY

- By ZENA HAWLEY

EDUCATION staff at Derby City Council say they have never read a report that is "so at odds with our knowledge and understanding of a school.

They were expressing their disappointment, along with school staff, at the outcome of an Ofsted inspection and report for Wren Park Primary School in Mickleover.

The comments by the Ofsted team included mention that safeguarding systems “lack rigour” and the school “requires significant improvement”.

The Jackson Avenue school was previously inspected in February 2023 and was told it “requires improvement”.

This was the first time the 372-pupil school had been inspected since 2010 when it was told it was “outstanding”.

The school was reinspected in May this year and the report has only just been published after an official complaint was lodged with Ofsted by the school, supported by the city council.

Schools no longer receive an overall grade and instead key judgements are made in five areas - quality of education (requires improvement); leadership and management (inadequate) and behaviour and attitudes, personal development and early years provision rated as “good”.

But it did not stop the inspectors from saying: “Leaders have made some improvements since the previous inspection.

“However, various issues remain unresolved. Some pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities (Send) do not receive the necessary adaptations or appropriate support to access the curriculum. This prevents them from developing the knowledge and skills that they need to succeed. This reflects leaders’ expectations for pupils’ achievement not being fully realised.”