Ofsted has written to Borough of Poole with the outcome of its recent inspection of arrangements for supporting school improvement. Here's what the report says:

Poole schoolchildren are under achieving:

Ofsted says: Poor challenge by the local authority over time has led to a slow pace of improvement in Poole’s primary and secondary schools. The outcomes for pupils at Key Stage 2 remain some of the lowest in the country and progress is poor in all groups, including the disadvantaged and the most able. Too many pupils do not make good enough progress at Key Stage 4. Achievement for learners on A-level courses in school sixth forms is average.

Gaps are not closing and in some areas, such as Key Stage 2 and English and mathematics in
Key Stage 4, they are widening.

Disdavantaged children are not effectively helped: 

Ofsted says: There is also no clear strategy for improvement to address the underachievement of disadvantaged pupils in Poole. There is no coordinated response across all age groups to ensure that these pupils make good or better progress and no targets or measurable outcomes to ensure that progress is monitored and evaluated robustly.

As a result, the progress and attainment of disadvantaged pupils remain below that of disadvantaged pupils nationally, at all stages of their education except in early years. Fewer stay in education post-16 than nationally, at only 75%.

Disabled and SEN pupils are not monitored: 

Ofsted says: The achievement of disabled pupils or those with special educational needs is not monitored by the local authority, except those who are looked after.  The local authority therefore does not know how well these pupils are doing. No reports are presented to the scrutiny committee on this issue. 

The council's strategy for improvement is unclear:

Ofsted says: Leaders do not articulate clearly an ambitious vision for the improvement of education. Plans lack precision and clarity and have few targets against which to measure progress, meaning the council does not know how or if its actions raise pupils’ achievement.

The strategic improvement plan is out of date, does not reference the most recent achievement data and shows limited ambition for improvement. This is in the context of a weak and inaccurate children and young people’s plan.

The council is not scrutinised or challenged robustly enough:

Ofsted says: Inaccurate and misleading public documentation still hinders appropriately robust challenge from council members. This has allowed pupils’ underachievement in Poole to continue largely unchecked; there has been little improvement in standards at Key Stage 2 or in closing the significant achievement gap between disadvantaged and other pupils.

Councillors do not challenge local authority leaders, or hold them to account robustly enough. Information provided to the scrutiny committee by local authority leaders does not highlight areas for improvement keenly or openly enough.

Advisers 'not clear' that secondary school achievement is not good:

Ofsted says: "The limited capacity of the school monitoring and intervention team has led to little work being undertaken with maintained secondary schools in the borough. As a result, advisers do not know their secondary schools well enough and are not clear that achievement is not good overall."

Work to improve schools is not measured to see if it works:

Ofsted says: Not all teachers know what the council's improvement plans are. 'Some perceive that arrangements for supporting school improvement have a low standing within the local authority.'

The inspectors said there was no evidence that the council monitored the quality of provision for 14 to 19 providers in a strategic way to secure improvement. 'This is slowing improvement in 14 to 19 work in Poole.'

Ofsted also says the work of 'high quality external consultants' is not evaluated: "There is no strategic approach to this deployment and the work of consultants is not quality assured or evaluated in terms of the difference it makes to pupils."

It also says the council needs a better "understanding of where good practice lies in its schools" and says underperformance and decline in some schools have not been identified quickly enough.

Schools don't provide enough data to monitor progress:

Ofsted says: "A suitably robust data-sharing agreement is not yet in place between all schools and the local authority. As a result, advisers do not always receive the information they need from all schools to enable precise monitoring of standards throughout the year."

It's not all bad

Early years: Ofsted says "the work of the early years’ team is a relative strength in Poole. This is because the adviser analyses children’s achievement data thoroughly and plans improvement work accordingly. The impact of this work is measured robustly. Children’s achievement is improving, including for the disadvantaged. Headteachers are united in their praise of this aspect of the local authority early years improvement service. Schools are required to demonstrate high standards of planning for vulnerable pupils before funds are released to them. As a result, pupils’ achievement is improving steadily."

New governors and teachers: Ofsted says the council has "taken challenging decisions and have acted robustly to tackle weak leadership over the last year. More effective school leaders and chairs of governors have been appointed in several maintained schools. As a result, several schools are benefiting from new leadership and improving governance that is closely directed to challenging underachievement."

Primary education is improving: School to school support, annual school reviews, better collaboration and a school standards authority are helping to drive change

Governors: Ofsted says governors are increasingly focused sharply on challenging school leaders to raise standards of achievement for pupils.

Recommendations for improvement:

Ofsted says the council should: 

  • tackle the underachievement of disadvantaged pupils without delay; monitor the attainment of disabled pupils and those with special educational needs effectively to ensure that leaders know how well those pupils are doing and take swift action to address poor performance
  • urgently address the underachievement of all other groups of pupils in Poole
  • develop a strategic approach to raising standards that is securely underpinned by precise targets derived from incisive analysis of accurate data; these targets must focus sharply on the key areas for improvement
  • through sharp and systematic monitoring, ensure that all schools, including those with sixth form provision, fully understand and engage with the priorities for improvement and their part in securing them
  • ensure that the council scrutiny committee delivers value for money by holding leaders to account, frequently and with rigour, for raising pupils’ achievement in Poole.

What will happen next? 

The inspection team recommends that the local authority’s progress in tackling areas for improvement is evaluated by a further inspection.

You can read the full report here