Praise for Northumberland council team with school Ofsted results at 'highest ever level'

Northumberland County Council’s school improvement team has been praised for its work over the past decade to reach the milestone. In 2013, a critical report found too many schools in the county were receiving poor Ofsted outcomes, with pupils not achieving their potential.

A document produced by the council at the time outlined that four of 17 schools inspected were placed into special measures, while only 54% of those judged as “requires improvement” were deemed to be making “satisfactory progress” in remedying weaknesses.

The council say the five-man school improvement team has “worked tirelessly” to turn the situation around since then.

The latest figures for the county show that 94% of schools are good or outstanding – compared to just 79% in 2016/17. This compares to the North East average of 92% and the national average of 91%.

Cllr Guy Renner-Thompson, cabinet member for children’s services, said: “This is a glowing report which reflects years of hard work to improve our schools and give young people the best start in life.

“Ofsted gradings are at their highest on record and for the first time in memory there are no inadequate schools in the county. This is down in no short measure to the work of the School Improvement Team – a group of skilled, experienced staff with a track record of supporting schools and improving outcomes.

“And while there are 30 Northumberland schools to be inspected in this cycle before next July, the team is fully focused on helping all those not yet inspected, or due re-inspection, prepare fully.”

Over the past year, 108 schools in the county called on support and challenge from the team – with three schools from neighbouring authorities also being supported. The team is also working to support the mental health of head teachers, with the report pointing out that one staff member describing this as “career-saving”.

The School Improvement Team consists of five full-time staff – a Head of School Improvement, three School Improvement Leaders and an administrator – and three part time staff. The team has experience of headship across a range of ages, phases and localities. The central team is supported by 12 School Improvement Partners, all of whom are experienced educators.

Audrey Kingham, executive director of Children, Young People and Education, added: “We are looking forward to presenting this report which gives another snapshot of the hard work and commitment that our teams show every single day in helping improve the lives of young people.”

The team was initially funded by the Government. However, in 2020 the grant that had previously provided the cash was ended.

The council has since managed to find the money to keep the service going despite ongoing pressures on local authority budgets.

Cllr Renner-Thompson added: “The overall schools grant was made larger but the previous Government stopped the specific grant for school improvements.

“When that grant was removed we decided to fund it ourselves. It is an excellent team and it is the reason why our schools’ Ofsted results are the best in the North East.”