The Colne Community School and College Ofsted Report
Please find below, a copy of the Colne Community School and College Ofsted Report following the Inspection carried out 16 � 17 May 2018
The Thrive Trust Board takes very seriously the comments made by Ofsted in the Report which has deemed the school Inadequate and requiring special measures compared to its Outstanding rating when it last had a full inspection in 2013.
However, the Report does not come as a complete surprise as the Trust Board had been concerned about the provision at the school for some time, even before the Monitoring visit carried out by Ofsted in January of this year.
Whilst parents and students will be worried about the contents of the report, they will also be aware that since May’s full Ofsted Inspection, the Trust has acted swiftly to accept the offer of support from the Sigma Trust and there has been an intense period of activity to resolve the situation.
Following the suspensions of the Chief Executive and Executive Principal in March, the Trust Board acted quickly to bring in extra leadership support with the help of the Regional Schools Commissioners Office in the form of an experienced Head from an outstanding school.� This was further supplemented with the appointment of 4 new highly experienced Trustees, significantly improving Trust governance at The Colne Community School.
Since the inspection we have worked to address many of the issues identified with the help of the interim leadership support at the school from the Sigma Trust. Interim Executive Head Teacher Neil Gallagher and colleagues from the Sigma Trust have already made a big impact at the school and have started the process of turning it around. Students report that they feel the school is calmer and lessons are more focused.
The process of seeking a Trust to take over the running of the school on a permanent basis is currently being led by the Regional Schools Commissioner�s office and we are very confident that the future is looking bright for The Colne Community School and College.
Neil Jones
Chair of The Thrive Partnership Academy Trust
4 July 2018
Dear Parents/Carers
Without doubt, the findings within this report are extremely disappointing, however, we fully accept the outcome and are committed to addressing all of the issues identified as soon as possible.
The report makes frequent reference to the leadership arrangements and the behaviour of students. I would like to echo the comments made by Neil Jones, Chair of the Thrive Academy Trust, about the future leadership arrangements. The rebrokering of the Trust schools is absolutely the right course of action and this will resolve the leadership issues going forward. In relation to the behaviour of students we have implemented a new policy, that I have written to parents about previously. I am able to say with total confidence that this change in approach has had a significant impact and the behaviour described in the report is unrecognisable at the Colne today.
As a school we are committed to working in partnership with our community, it is essential that we work together as we move forward to address the key issues identified. We have a very dedicated body of staff that will work tirelessly to ensure the young people that attend our school are able to fulfil their potential and achieve their aspirations. Whilst there is still a lot of hard work ahead of us there is a real determination�amongst our staff who want nothing more than to put this right.
Yours sincerely
Neil Gallagher
Interim Executive Headteacher