Ofsted and Moor Lane School

On Wednesday 7th July I led an adjournment debate on Moor Lane School at the House of Commons.

I had already tabled a special Early Day Motion in the House of Commons to highlight the problems caused by Ofsted's undermining of morale at Moor Lane Junior School. 

Why have I taken this action? 

I know many of the teachers at the school and their efforts should be commended.  Ofsted and HMI inspectors have been off the mark and clearly not appreciated all the hard work everyone has put in.

This is not surprising given that the inspectors have turned up on isolated occasions without the benefit of witnessing the daily successes at this school, nor do Ofsted seem to have taken account of the challenges faced at Moor Lane with its high proportion of children with special education needs.

Unfortunately, their conclusions have completely undermined all the hard work teachers have put in and I can understand their frustration.

SATs results

Although Ofsted recommended special measures for Moor Lane School just weeks ago for not improving sufficiently, the school received its latest SATS results this week, showing a 40% improvement in Science to above national average and a 7% improvement in English to the national average.

Ofsted got it wrong. That’s not just my opinion, it’s the view of parents, the view of the examiners of the SATS tests and the view of the local education authority.

I have asked Chris Woodhead to apologise to the staff, parents and children of the school, both for Ofsted’s failures and for his own, ill-informed comments in this case.

Charles Kennedy's response

The Leader of the Liberal Democrats spoke about Ofsted in a speech given to the Local Government Association on 27th June.

Referring to Moor Lane School Charles Kennedy said:

All the additional and often unnecessary work created by the Government's targets clearly undermines teachers morale.  This is exacerbated when Ofsted mishandles its job so badly.

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Ofsted got it wrong

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Charles Kennedy on Ofsted and Moor Lane School
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