To receive and discuss the above report.

Councillor E. Wilson gave a brief overview of the progress made by Churchmead CE School. He stated the school was not in a good way and there were issues with behaviour, there were huge variations in attainment with no head teacher or governing body. In order to turn the school around, they needed a new head teacher with a god work ethic which had helped to turn the school around in a very short space of time. Initially there was a huge list of things to do which included a lack of sixth form offer and 80% of students attending from Slough.

Councillor Wilson stated the Ofsted report showed the head teacher had worked incredibly hard and the school had changed their offer as a small secondary school. There were also some outstanding elements at Churchmead with a lot of sustainable changes; in particular attainment levels and progress in children previously being graded E or U grades, now being graded C grades and that was impressive in such a short space of time. He added he had written to a local newspaper to encourage people to take a look at Churchmead for their children, particularly those from Wraysbury.

Councillor Wilson attended Churchmead’s Sixth Form open evening which was a collaboration between Churchmead and East Berkshire College. Over 75 children had applied to the sixth form so the school had managed to go from having no sixth form at all to a fully functioning sixth form. So far the results of the changes were very encouraging and Councillor Wilson stated he could not see a reason why the school would be outstanding in two to three years time.

The Chairman commented that what the school and the head teacher had achieved was outstanding and in the near future the school itself would also be considered as outstanding by Ofsted; it was a school to be watched moving forward.

Councillor Wilson explained that one issue the school had was the number of children with English as a second language attending. A number of the children would be registered for an exam but then leave the school before sitting the exam. This left the school with a loss of attainment at GCSE level but, he was confident that had been addressed.

Councillor Wilson stated the vocational side of the curriculum at the school came through strongly and they were about to launch a football academy; in collaboration with East Berkshire College, qualifications in that area would be offered. He added a further area the school was extremely good at was photography and media which allowed children that did not fit the academic stream to do very well with fantastic outcomes.

The school managed to improve basic things such as the head teacher being at the school gates, ensuring the school was being cleaned properly and their accident book to be kept up to date. Councillor Wilson suggested the head teacher at Churchmead speak to other head teachers in the Borough. The head teacher at Churchmead had been on a journey and was potentially inspirational for other heads in the Borough. He would encourage the head teacher to attend a future Forum meeting to explain how he managed to turn the school around without extra funding.

The Chairman confirmed he had aspirations of inviting head teachers to share their ways forward and how they had achieved their successes. He requested the head teacher be congratulated and he wished him all the best. He also stated that if the head teacher required anything to keep moving forward and raising standards, the Borough would do all it could to help where it could. Kevin McDaniel, Head of Schools and Educational Services commented that he had been reading Ofsted reports for ten years and it was great to see such improvement in all areas, especially at the disadvantaged end of the school.