Outstanding Ofsted rating is a festive gift
“It’s a beautiful Christmas present,” Jacqueline Cornell, headteacher at Stratford Girls' Grammar School (SGGS) said after Ofsted rated the school outstanding in its inspection report.
The report states: “This school does not stand still or rest on its laurels. There is a culture of support to deliver the very best, and a professional desire to improve. Exceptional means a beacon of excellence and the cumulative Quality of Education is exceptional.”
The rating is the highest any school can achieve and is made more significant by the sheer determination pupils, parents and staff showed to drive SGGS to the very top after the major disruption caused to the nation’s education curriculum during and after Covid.
Following a two-day Ofsted inspection on 27th and 28th September, inspectors concluded that the girls’ grammar school based in Shottery was outstanding in its 'quality of education, behaviour and attitudes, personal development, leadership and management and sixth-form provision'.
Ofsted has not previously inspected SGGS under section 5 of the Education Act 2005. However, Ofsted previously judged the grammar school for girls a specialist college for language and science to be outstanding but this was before it opened as Stratford Girls’ Grammar School as a result of converting to academy status.
From 2012, schools that had been judged outstanding were legally exempt from further regular inspection, unless there were specific concerns about the school. The exemption was lifted in 2020.
“The inspection shows the quality of education across the school and we were outstanding in every single category. Nationally 80 per cent of schools that were outstanding are now rated good so the feedback from Ofsted inspectors is validation for the work we have done.
“We’ve always believed and encouraged student voice because they are feeding into the system in fact, they are feeding into everything we do and we are embracing all elements of equality and inclusion in our school,” said Jacqueline Cornell.
She took over as headteacher at the school in 2016 and has been teaching since 1992 but no one fore-saw the chaos Covid would cause over the last two years so achieving outstanding status is even greater measured against the enforced change of school during the pandemic nevertheless the path to perfection was not easy.
Achieving the Ofsted outstanding rating was - as Jacqueline Cornell describes it - “by no means a walk in the park.”
“It was an emotional day when Ofsted announced their findings but we have had some phenomenal and amazing GCSE and A levels grades and that’s down to the commitment of staff, parents and pupils. What we have created is a supportive, warm and nurturing environment which is full of enrichment and the girls have lapped it up. This is our first full year back after Covid and to achieve outstanding has been phenomenal for everyone. I’m really proud of the girls and everybody involved,” Jacqueline Cornell said.
Ofsted further noted: “Shaping Futures runs through the heart of Stratford Girls’ Grammar School. This shared ethos is seen in everything pupils and staff do. Pupils achieve exceptionally well through their learning. Leaders’ high expectations are realised by the focus on key knowledge in lessons. Pupils respond to these high expectations with enthusiasm, and they excel. Pupils appreciate their teachers and know that they want them to be successful in their learning.”
The reported added that pupils' behaviour was exemplary and noted pupils themselves believe “there is an invisible thing that helps everyone to behave.”
“Staff are warm and nurturing and pay careful attention to promoting pupils’ well-being, education and personal development,” Ofsted inspectors said.
The school’s sixth form was also singled out for praise – it was rated outstanding as well by Ofsted who said it was “embedded in the community of the school two years out of the seven-year journey creating a truly through school.”
Jacqueline Cornell said: “We are still working on the well-being areas we are developing land outside because if the girls are outside it improves their mental wealth. We believe in collaborative working, online chats, talking with each other and facilitation from the front because the girls have a great contribution to make. Together we are shaping futures and that is a theme throughout the school.”
The next Ofsted inspection at the girls’ grammar school will be in three to five years’ time but headteachers like Jacqueline Cornell don’t know about the intended date of an inspection until the day before so it requires a full time commitment to excellence but in the meantime the whole school is celebrating nwes of its outstanding rating.
“It’s a beautiful Christmas present,” Jacqueline Cornell said. “A re-assuring thing for staff to have because outstanding says exactly what we do. Our ambition now is maintaining the highest standard and that’s a great ambition to have.”
There was more good news for SGGS when it was awarded the Quality in Careers Standard at the first time of application. This is the national quality award for careers that recognises high class careers provision and planning across the school.
The assessor noted the flow of careers advice as students pass through the school was integrated into PSHE and SEND provision.
As part of the well-being of pupils, the school now has a
Reflection Garden that was landscaped and planted by our Year 8 and 9 students during Enrichment Week in July this year. The Bench was donated by the Chelsea Flower show where it used to part of The Cherub HIV Garden and its message of ‘Acceptance not Stigma’ encapsulates the ethos students wish to celebrate in their school community.
L OTHER Ofsted graded inspections of previously exempt schools 2021/22 include, Welford Primary School graded as 2 (good); King Edward VI graded 1 (outstanding), Southam College graded 1 (outstanding) and Lawrence Sheriff graded 1 (outstanding).
Not all schools have been re-inspected yet.
