Northampton school which requires improvement 'delighted' to be heading in right direction after optimistic Ofsted inspection

A delighted Northampton head teacher believes his school is 'heading in the right direction' after Ofsted praised the changes made since the last critical inspection.
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The education watchdog told The Duston School it is 'taking highly effective action to become a 'good' school' having been rated as 'requires improvement' in the last two inspections.

Head teacher Sam Strickland said: "This is an absolute affirmation the school is really moving in the right direction.

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"It comes on the back of a summer where we had the best GCSE results in the school's history, which put us in the top 20 per cent of all schools, and the best A-level results in the school's history, which put us in the top five per cent nationally."

The Duston SchoolThe Duston School
The Duston School

Ofsted criticised The Duston School in October, 2018, for the teaching quality and outcomes for pupils, as well as praising it in other areas, particularly for early years.

Mr Strickland said they have made many changes since, such as improving behaviour, refining the curriculum and reducing the workload on teachers.

Following the monitoring visit in November, the inspector wrote to the head teacher on December 9, to congratulate him on the 'much-needed' improvements and his leadership.

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"You care passionately about the school, its pupils and staff. You lead with a moral purpose to improve the educational provision for all pupils," the letter reads.

The inspector said pupils told him behaviour had improved as well as teaching, which has benefitted from training and research, while provisions for special educational needs students is better.

Mr Strickland said: "We're confident we will be rated as a 'good' school with 'outstanding' sections at the next inspection.

"This monitoring visit, which was a routine visit, is an affirmation the school is moving in the right direction and doing all the right things. I couldn't be more delighted."

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