Delight as Bridgnorth Endowed achieves ‘Good’ Ofsted Rating

Bridgnorth Endowed is rated Good by Ofsted
Headteacher and students celebrate Good Ofsted rating

Students and staff at Bridgnorth Endowed School are celebrating after the school achieved a ‘Good’ rating in its latest Ofsted report, a triumph that represents the end of a difficult chapter at the school.

Inspectors visited the school after the Easter break and were particularly impressed with the substantial strides that had been made in the quality of teaching and learning since the previous inspection, which took place in March 2016.

Since his arrival last June, Headteacher, Mr Barry Worth, has made significant progress with his aims and Ofsted inspectors have praised him, saying “He has raised expectations for pupils’ conduct and their attitudes towards their work and for the quality of teaching. As a direct result, standards in the school are rising noticeably.”

“It’s been a great team effort”, Mr Worth said. “I have ambitious plans for the school but without the wholehearted commitment from staff, and pupils getting on board with all the changes, this would not have been possible.”

A robust approach to attendance, effective safeguarding, and an emphasis on behaviour and learning have all contributed to the success of this winning strategy.

The report reveals that observations in lessons and scrutiny of classwork showed that “pupils of all abilities are making strong progress in English, mathematics and most other subjects.”

Commenting on the environment at Bridgnorth Endowed, the report highlights that “safeguarding is a strength of the school” and pupils themselves told inspectors that “bullying is very rare” and “they feel entirely safe in school.”

The Ofsted inspectors went on to commend Bridgnorth Endowed School for its work to promote pupil development and welfare, citing the “high value placed on developing well-rounded young people who are respectful, polite and industrious.”

With traditional values of discipline, courtesy and good manners at the heart of the school’s ethos, behaviour is of the highest importance and the report states that “Relationships in the classroom are good. Pupils treat each other’s ideas with respect and collaborate effectively when asked to do so.”

This finding extends to outside lessons, as Ofsted noted that “Pupils’ conduct at social times is impressive. They display courtesy towards adults and towards each other.”

The school, which was last rated as ‘Good’ over 15 years ago, in 2003, has undergone some dramatic changes over the past two terms but the determination and hard work has certainly paid off.

A key change has resulted in a complete reorganisation of the curriculum, in line with the Mastery Learning system that now forms the basis of the teaching programme at Bridgnorth Endowed.

Next on the list for radical improvement is the sixth form. The reports states that “Although standards are rising rapidly, there is a significant legacy of underachievement in the sixth form.” Plans are now in place to make changes to post-16 education, in order to open up opportunities and offer a broader range of subjects for Bridgnorth Endowed students to study.

Headteacher, Mr Worth, sums up: “I am incredibly proud of our pupils, their parents and our dedicated governors and members of staff who all helped Ofsted to recognise that Bridgnorth Endowed School is a great place to receive an excellent education. We are very excited about the future and continue the work to move onwards to outstanding.”

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