Northamptonshire secondary school awarded first ‘good’ Ofsted rating since becoming an academy ten years ago

Inspectors saw ‘significant’ improvements since its last inspection
Watch more of our videos on Shots! 
and live on Freeview channel 276
Visit Shots! now

A Northamptonshire secondary school has achieved a ‘good’ Ofsted rating for the first time since it became an academy ten years ago.

Campion School in Bugbrooke was visited by school watchdog inspectors on November 9 and 10 this year as part of a full inspection.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

The school had previously received two ‘requires improvement’ gradings in 2016 and 2018. The last time it was ranked as ‘good’ was in 2011 as it transitioned into an academy.

Campion School.Campion School.
Campion School.

Earlier this year, during a virtual monitoring visit, staff were told the school was on the road to improvement.

In the latest report, published on Friday (December 10), inspectors ranked the school as ‘good’ in all five categories, including quality of education, behaviour and attitudes, personal development, leadership and management and sixth-form provision.

The Ofsted report says: “Staff at Campion have high expectations of all pupils at the school including those in the sixth form.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

“There is an ambition that all pupils can achieve academically.

“As suggested by the school’s hashtag, pupils and staff are proud to be Campion.

“Older pupils and staff agree that this school has improved significantly in the last few years.

“They value the culture and environment leaders have created. This is helping pupils learn.”

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

Inspectors highlighted specific areas of good practice, which include reading and personal development.

The report adds: “Reading has been prioritised and the school is developing a love of reading and those students at the early stages of reading gain phonics knowledge and comprehension skills to give them the foundation for future learning.

“The personal development programme helps pupils prepare to be great global citizens and pupils contribute to the life of the school, including through being mental health ambassadors and reading mentors.”

The report also said that special educational needs and disability (SEND) measures have improved and that overall safeguarding is effective,

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

Headteacher Patricia Hammond said: “I am proud that Campion is now recognised as providing a good quality of education and parents of our children and children in our community can be secure in this knowledge.

“I would like to thank staff, students, parents, members and trustees, and especially our chair of trustees Pamela Hutchison who has been at the helm of this improvement journey.”

The Ofsted report highlighted remaining issues that need to be addressed, which include teachers not teaching knowledge ‘explicitly enough’ and not checking if pupils’ understanding is secure.

The school says it has ‘recognised’ the areas where the school needs to further improve and that ‘this is being addressed’.

As is standard with ‘good’ schools, Campion will be subject to another full inspection in approximately four years.

View the full Ofsted report on the school watchdog's website here.