Inspection of Harton Academy
Inspection dates: 1 and 2 March 2022
| Judgement | |
The Quality of Education |
Good |
Behaviour and Attitudes |
Good |
Personal Development |
Good |
Sixth Form Provision |
Good |
| Leadership and Management | Requires improvement |
| Overall effectiveness | Requires improvement |
Dear Parent/Carer
Following Harton Academy’s inspection back in early March, I am now in a position to share the final report with you.
As you can see, they have concluded that the quality of education, behaviour and attitudes, personal development, and sixth form provision are all ‘GOOD’. Whilst it is disappointing that these judgements have all dropped from ‘outstanding’, this is quite commonplace with the latest Ofsted framework.
The inspectors did recognise that leaders are compassionate and caring about the pupils in their charge, that leaders and staff share high expectations for pupils’ behaviour and academic achievements, that leaders have thought carefully about how to organise the curriculum and have mapped out what pupils should know and when, and how to best prepare pupils to succeed academically. They add that leaders have consistently high expectations for pupils’ behaviour.
They also acknowledge that a positive and respectful culture is evident in the day-to-day activity of the school, that pupils interact with each other maturely, that pupils are polite and many are positive about their experience of school. Very importantly, they recognised that pupils’ conduct in lessons and around school is impressive, that staff and pupils treat each other with courtesy and that staff forge positive relationships with pupils, and a respectful culture is evident around school.
They also recognised the wide range of extra-curricular opportunities on offer and how the pupils talk with enthusiasm about these opportunities, how pupils talk confidently about mental health and on-line safety, and that careers provision is a strength of the school.
Finally, the inspectors state that “arrangements for safeguarding are effective”. As safeguarding is a limiting judgement, this resulted in the requires improvement judgements for leadership and management, and overall effectiveness.
I am sure that you will agree there are huge positives as outlined above. I have been at the school for almost 39 years and I firmly believe that the school is stronger than ever. We have been judged as outstanding several times in the past, featured in Ofsted’s national publication regarding outstanding schools, but clearly the bar has been raised. The senior staff have observed in excess of 100 lessons since September 2021 and in our judgement, over 96% have been at least ‘good’, with almost 70% as ‘outstanding’.
Regarding safeguarding, I can assure parents that the staff take safeguarding incredibly seriously and always go the extra mile to ensure that students are kept safe.
We hope that when you read the full report, you will see that Harton continues to be an amazing place to learn and to work.
In closing, we are very happy to invite parents and carers to the school for further information on the process and outcomes of the inspection, with an opportunity to answer any questions you may have.
This will take place on Monday July 4th at 6pm in our main hall. It would be useful to know approximate numbers who may wish to attend, so please e-mail headteacher@hartonacademy.co.uk if you are able to make it.
Many thanks and best wishes,
