Second Telford school put in special measures

Wrockwardine Wood Arts Academy has become the second school in the Telford Cooperative Multi Academy Trust (TCMAT) this month to receive the lowest possible overall rating from the Office for Standards in Education, Children's Services and Skills (Ofsted).

Earlier this month it was revealed that the Sutherland Co-Operative Academy had also been rated as "inadequate" and placed in special measures.

The other two schools in the trust are the Lakeside Academy in Stirchley and the Phoenix Academy in Dawley. They have also been inspected this year but the results have yet to be published.

Both Wrockwardine Wood and Sutherland will now be regularly monitored by Government inspectors to make sure the necessary improvements are made to bring them back up to scratch.

The Wrockwardine report says: "Her Majesty's Chief Inspector is of the opinion that this school requires special measures because it is failing to give its pupils an acceptable standard of education and the persons responsible for leading, managing or governing the school are not demonstrating the capacity to secure the necessary improvement in the school."

The school, in New Road, Wrockwardine Wood, has 734 pupils aged between 11 and 16 and was previously known as Wrockwardine Wood Arts College.

It converted to an academy school in April 2013, giving it more power over its day-to-day running away from local authority control.

When the school was last inspected by Ofsted back in the summer of 2012 – while under Telford & Wrekin Borough Council's control – it was rated "good" and described by inspectors as having "improved strongly" since its previous inspection in 2009, with teaching rated as "good overall and sometimes outstanding" and the behaviour of pupils also praised.

But the latest report, which has been made public on the Ofsted website, rates the leadership and management, quality of teaching and achievement of pupils at the school as "inadequate"

The behaviour of some pupils in lessons "requires improvement", it adds.

The four-strong team of inspectors sat in on 33 different classes as part of the two-day visit to the school in February.

Inspectors spoke with principal John Jones and other senior leaders, governors, staff, pupils and also considered written responses to an online parents questionnaire.

The report says: "Leadership is inadequate because leaders have not secured essential improvements in students' achievement.

"In the year that the academy opened, achievement, particularly in English and Mathematics, was too low. Examination results in 2014 show that leaders failed to arrest a decline in standards.

"Inspectors strongly recommend that the academy should not seek to appoint newly qualified teachers until improvements are judged to have taken place.

"Governors have not been rigorous enough in their duties to hold leaders or staff to account for continued low standards.

"The behaviour of students requires improvement. In some lessons, low-level disruption hinders progress. Students say that behaviour in some lessons is not always good.

"A minority of students can be boisterous. Inspectors heard a number of students swearing.

"Teaching is inadequate because students make inadequate progress in their learning over time.

"In some lessons, low-level disruption slows the progress of students. Off-task chatter, students shouting out answers, or talking while the teacher is talking disrupt the pace of learning.

"Teachers are not always quick enough to challenge inappropriate behaviour and standards tolerated by teachers are inconsistent. Attainment is significantly below that of other schools and below minimum expectations, known as floor standards."