MATRAVERS School stood their ground recently when criticised in the national media for their conduct during a recent Ofsted inspection.
The school made headlines over half-term, appearing on the Daily Mail online and on BBC News, in what the latter described as an ‘autism row’.
The story flared up after parents claimed that a small number of children with special needs were being taken out of classes during the Ofsted visits, to stop their behaviour affecting the school’s results.
One father’s story told of his dyslexic son being moved from English and science lessons into motor mechanics – a subject he does well in – with only hours’ notice.
Another mother reported that the school telephoned her and asked her autistic son to stay at home when the inspection was carried out, in the final week of term three.
When the stories shot to national attention, hundreds of people took to their keyboards to express shocked disgust and accusations of discrimination and manipulation.
This was followed shortly by waves of people describing the move as common practice and as being in the children’s best interests.
A voicemail left on the mother’s answerphone was published, which heard a member of staff explaining that, because of the hectic nature of the school during inspection, “there may not be the staff to deal with him [her son]”.
The issue has become hotly contested on Facebook, local internet forums, and the Daily Mail online website, where there are over 450 comments.
A Westbury town forum user spoke in support of the school and said, “This issue has existed since Ofsted was set up and they know what goes on to protect the child from any unnecessary stress, and so also to help an inspection go ahead with an undisturbed class.
“I am sure that the six Ofsted inspectors who visited Matravers recently knew what was happening and had every opportunity to look at any part of the school they wanted to look at. Their normal procedure is to look at the data which includes the number of statemented kids/those with special educational needs, see where they are and note their progress.
“I am also sure they will comment on the school’s progress towards bringing on the teaching and learning of disadvantaged pupils relative to the rest because they always do.”
In a response sent to White Horse News, a spokesperson for Matravers School said, “Our abilities to respond to complaints made through the press are limited and as such we are not able to refer to specific details about individuals.
“Matravers School was visited by Ofsted on Thursday 5th and Friday 6th February 2015 as part of the routine inspection of schools. 4 Inspectors visited the school alongside 2 additional trainee Inspectors. Inspectors had full access to the whole school site, our students and records.
“During any Ofsted inspection there are changes to routines within schools. For instance, over the 2-day inspection approximately 50 students were withdrawn from lessons at the request of the Ofsted Inspection Team to form student panels, where they spoke to the Inspectors about their impressions of the school. It is not usual practice to inform the parents of those children involved of this change to the regular routine, or indeed of other adaptations that often take place during an Ofsted visit.
“We have been accused of “hiding” students away during the inspection. Far from it; we took Inspectors to visit our Hair & Beauty and Motor Mechanics provision as well as our “Link” alternative provision and “Learning Support” area because we are deeply proud of all these aspects of our school.
“Our alternative provisions are not for “naughty children” as has been implied; they are simply “different” provisions that are designed to enable all children to achieve and succeed.
“Over 20% (200+ students) of our cohort has a Special Educational Need, which is above the national average. Three of our most vulnerable students have extremely complex needs. We were concerned that they may have struggled with “unfamiliar adults” (i.e. Ofsted Inspectors) around the school site, or possibly appearing in their lessons and asking them about their work.
“With this in mind we contacted their parents and asked for help in supporting their child by preparing them for this potentially upsetting change to their familiar school routine. We were able to do this because we know our students very well.
“We take seriously our duty of care towards our children, which involves helping them avoid being placed in situations where they may feel distress or discomfort. Of the three parents we contacted all but one parent sent their child into school. We did not, as has been reported, ask any parent to keep their child at home.
“As always, we encourage parents who have any concerns to contact the school so we can respond to their individual queries sensitively, constructively and confidentially. To date, only one parent has made a complaint to the school about the disruption to school life during the inspection. This was received on Friday 13 February 2015, one week after the inspection and on the last day of term.
“All of our students during the Inspection have represented the school with great pride. They showed exactly how far Matravers has progressed since we were last inspected by Ofsted in February 2013.
“As was shown in last year’s exam results, for the first time the vast majority of our children are performing above the national expectations, from their starting points, including children with special educational needs. We are by no means “perfect”, but we are transforming the performance of our students. Our GCSE results last year moved us up over 750 places in the school league tables; our A-level performance was above national average on academic and vocational performance.
“We look forward to updating you again once the Ofsted Report is available.”
Matravers will be hoping to improve their Ofsted standing after the last inspection report in 2013 designated it ‘Requires Improvement’. It received this rating in every area except ‘Behaviour’ and ‘Safety of Pupils’, in which it was awarded ‘Good’.
