A SECONDARY school in Cirencester has issued a robust response after a challenge to an Ofsted rating of 'Requires Improvement' failed.

The watchdog's judgment for Cirencester Kingshill School published last Tuesday, February 7 was a downgrade from its previous rating of 'Good' in 2017.

All four categories inspected - quality of education, behaviour, personal development and leadership - were rated as Requiring Improvement.

However, headteacher Christine Oates believes the report does not reflect the quality of education and has branded the findings an 'insult'.

The report said some aspects of the curriculum were not well planned or implemented which meant some pupils had 'did not gain sufficient knowledge in some subjects'.

It also said some pupils 'did not have consistently positive attitudes to learning' because 'leaders do not have high enough expectations of what all pupils can achieve'.

Inspectors said: "Trustees and leaders do not have a clear enough vision for the quality of education. Trustees do not challenge leaders stringently enough."

Concerns were also raised about SEND provision.

The inspection took place on November 22 and 23 last year but the report's publication was delayed because of the school's challenge which was dismissed.

In a letter to parents, Ms Oates said: "Myself, the school leadership team and the governors submitted a complaint regarding the way data and analysis was collected and interpreted during the inspection and how this was then reported."

She went on to praise how teachers and pupils had coped during the pandemic, pointing out that last year’s GSCE results were the school's best ever despite the disruption.

"With this in mind, we felt we were well on track to receive an overall Ofsted judgement of ‘Good’," she said.

"To be told that we had gone to ‘Requires Improvement’ felt very much an insult to the incredible hard work of pupils, staff and governors alike.

"We fundamentally believe that the report does not reflect the quality of education this school provides.

"To have had the best GCSE results the school has ever had and not to have them taken into consideration when compiling the report, undervalued the hard work undertaken by pupils and teachers of the 2022 Year 11 cohort."

She went on to say that SEND provision was improving and addressed concerns about behaviour.

"Behaviour in this school is no different to the majority of other local schools," she said.

"Staff have high expectations of pupil behaviour and the vast majority of our pupils rise to these expectations. Any misbehaviour is quickly dealt with and appropriate punishments set as a deterrent."

In a statement to the Standard, she added: “As a school, we are now moving forward and are working on the judgements that Ofsted have said need improving and have put together an action plan on how this will be achieved.

“Since the release of the report, we have received nothing but support and backing from parents.

"We feel they know the school best and realise that the description of the school and quality of education outlined within the report does not reflect the school their children attend.

"We have asked for an early re-inspection and we look forward to Ofsted coming back to school to see the implementation of our action plan, which will hopefully in turn change the judgement back to ‘Good’."

There are four Ofsted gradings - grade 1: outstanding, grade 2: good, grade 3: requires improvement and grade 4: inadequate.

You can read the whole Ofsted report at shorturl.at/atJPR