A headmaster has vigorously defended his school after a report claimed more than 5,600 Suffolk youngsters are being taught in 'inadequate' schools, including one on the Shotley peninsula.

Shotley primary school was named among a list of 19 rated Inadequate by Ofsted. However, since the inspection in 2017, the school in Shotley has been taken on by Asset Education trust and considered locally as having vastly improved.

Richard Dedicoat, head teacher at Shotley primary school pointed out that Ofsted reports are woefully out of date and the 'moment in time' inspection at Shotley highlighted the deficiencies.

Mt Dedicoat also pointed out that when a school is graded inadequate it then receives an academy order which means it is forced to join an academy trust. 

Many of the schools on the published list are only academies now because they have failed under the watch of the local authority, which in turn means the real reason why there are no local authority maintained schools that are inadequate.  

"As parents with children who attend Shotley Primary School will know, there have been a lot of changes since the Ofsted inspection and the school is now considered by the trust to be a successful school that serves its children and local community well," said Mr Dedicoat.  "We anticipate a 'good' rating at the next inspection which will be due in 2021.

"Pupils leave the school with good reading, writing and maths skills, above national averages, and a vibrant curriculum is being developed to allow all children to become the best versions of themselves. 

"To enable this, the children have access to learning that focuses on the environment, the arts and to make them globally aware.

"The community around the school is fully supportive with many opportunities for parents and carers to become involved in their children's learning.

"This is enhanced by a local governing body who challenge and support the work and plans of the school to enable it to be the best it can be. "

Mr Dedicoat and school governors insists they operate an open-door policy and visitors to the school are warmly welcomed.  

Meanwhile, Shotley primary school and Kidzone will not open today as a precaution after a pupil was deemed by a doctor to 'probably' having Covid-19.

Full story here: School closes

Mr Dedicoat responded to Nub News, after reports about inadequate schools and how Suffolk County Council figures showed numbers rose to nearly 20,000 when combined with children in establishments classed as 'requires improvement' – one in five pupils across the county.

The figures published ahead of Suffolk County Council's full council meeting on Thursday showed that as of February 20 there were 19 schools rated 'inadequate', all of which were academy schools.

Those schools took more than 5,600 pupils, or 4% of Suffolk's school population.

Improvements at academies are monitored by the Regional Schools Commissioner and not the local education authority, but Conservative cabinet member for education at Suffolk County Council, Mary Evans, said it did still offer support to help drive improvements.

"The county council's role is to support, influence and challenge school leaders and the Regional Schools Commissioner's team to ensure that all children in Suffolk fulfil their full potential," she said.

"Local authority maintained schools are performing extremely well as reflected by Ofsted and we have a strong team of skilled qualified teachers and leaders within the council challenging and supporting them.

"With regards to academies we have a strong and robust relationship with the RSC's team and multi-academy trust CEOs, who hold academies to account.

"The council facilitates learning between schools to enable them to share best practice.

"School leaders in all state funded schools in Suffolk can be supported in their improvement work by being part of the Suffolk Learning and Improvement Network, which is a headteacher-led peer review model and all schools can also seek professional development support from the School to School Support Partnership.

"The council have also set up a cross party policy development panel to look at the next phase of Raising the Bar which focuses on raising educational attainment across Suffolk.

"Local authority school improvement officers work with all LA maintained schools and also offer improvement support to all academies."

Labour education spokesman at the county council, Jack Abbott, described it as a "staggering failure of our education system" and added: "This [data] makes it clear that academisation isn't a silver bullet, or that it should remain a one-way street where academies can't come back under local authority control.

"In truth, those in power at Suffolk County Council look to delegate blame elsewhere, rather than taking a leadership role in driving up educational standards throughout the county. It is a shame because local authority-run schools are performing very well.

"I wish it felt like education was a priority for the Conservatives locally and in Westminster, but there seems to be little desire to acknowledge the problems that they've created, provide adequate funding

or fix an increasingly fragmented system."

The complete list of 'inadequate' schools as of Thursday, February 20, is as follows. The date in brackets denotes the last inspection, either full or monitoring visit:

• Sprites Primary Academy, Ipswich (October 15 2019)

* Ormiston Denes Academy, Lowestoft (December 11 2019 – monitoring visit)

* Langer Primary Academy, Felixstowe (May 16 2018)

* Felixstowe Academy (January 15 2020 – monitoring visit)

• Ixworth CofE Primary School (October 3 2017 – monitoring visit under previous name)
• Bury St Edmunds County Upper School (July 3 2019 – monitoring visit)
• The Everitt Academy, Carlton Colville (September 17, 2019)
• Great Whelnetham CofE Primary School (January 15 2019 – under previous name)
• Chalk Hill, Sudbury (March 19 2019 – monitoring visit under previous name)
• The Bridge School, Ipswich (February 12 2019 – monitoring visit under previous name)
• Grange Community Primary School, Felixstowe (December 7 2017 – under previous name)

* Helmingham Primary School (December 4 2018 – monitoring visit under previous name)

• Warren School, Oulton Broad (November 14 2017 – under previous name)

* Shotley Community Primary School (November 7 2017 – under previous name)

* Howard Community Primary School, Bury St Edmunds (May 15 2018 – monitoring visit under previous name)

* Morland CofE Primary School, Ipswich (February 7 2018 – monitoring visit under previous name)

* Rougham CofE Primary School (January 18 2017)

• Olive Alternative Provision Academy Suffolk, Stowmarket (May 6 2015 – under previous name)
• Horatio House Independent School, Lowestoft (February 4 2020 – additional inspection)