Towards ‘Outstanding’ OFSTED – Charles Read Grantham

Charles Read was classed as ‘Outstanding’ in its last ICT subject inspection. What is it that they do that could help other schools improve their game? Well it certainly isn’t an above average intake.

The students typically are below average in ICT when they start at the school, this is in large part because the local Grammar School successfully ‘creams off” the brighter students. However they make very rapid progress in KS3 in large part because ‘Students say they use ICT frequently when working in other subjects and typically they say they use ICT every day’. This increases their exposure to computers and their experience of them, but that can only be part of the answer. The teachers in other subjects must be competent and well organized. Although the role of the SLT is not mentioned in ‘Leadership and Management’ they have clearly supported what is obviously an effective department and made sure that cross-curricular ICT is established, something OFSTED mention in most reports. Although ICT is a subject inspection and as a subject controlled by its Head of Department, Cross-curricular ICT is almost always mentioned in OFSTED reports, although that is typically controlled by the SLT through their control of CPD.

It seems likely that the ‘Outstanding’ derives from a department that starts adding value form day one, and uses assessment intelligently, plus also a school that has cross-curricular ICT well organized with a well trained staff.

See http://moodlexchange.com/?p=338#more-338 for the full report plus other ICT subject reports