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School beats deadline to regain inspectors’ favour |
Primary’s fall from grace blamed
on year-long hunt for new head
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Staff at St Mary and St Pancras School, taken out of ‘special
measures’ ahead of schedule
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A SHORTAGE of churchgoing headteachers was partly to blame
for a Somers Town school going into “special measures”.
This is the view of Sheila McCalla-Gordon, eventually recruited
as head teacher, who was speaking as St Mary and St Pancras School
celebrated gaining the all-clear from government inspectors this
week.
Less than 18 months ago, the Office for Standards in Education
(Ofsted) introduced a programme of rolling inspections and demanded
improvements after warning that all 214 pupils at the Polygon
Road primary were under-achieving.
That report marked a remarkable fall from grace for a school described
as one of England’s best just three years earlier.
But speaking this week, a jubilant Ms McCalla-Gordon, who took
over a month after the damning report, said the year-long search
to replace her high-achieving predecessor, Carey Millar, had been
a key problem for the school.
A flood of staff departed after Ms Millar moved on, leaving it
with a “lack of continuity”, she said.
Ms McCalla-Gordon added: “Most schools are finding it very
hard to appoint heads. It’s an incredibly challenging and
stressful job and schools are having to advertise three or four
times before finding someone suitable.”
She praised staff, governors, inspectors, pupils and parents for
working as a team to get the school out of “special measures”
six months ahead of its deadline.
Ms McCalla-Gordon said: “We have a fantastic team here and
this is an achievement we can all be really proud of.”
Nearly half the pupils at the school have English as a second
language, a third are refugees and one in five has special educational
needs.
Camden’s Labour education supremo Councillor Nick Smith heaped
praise on Ms McCalla-Gordon and her staff as the news of the school’s
improvement emerged this week.
He said: “Rarely are schools removed from special measures
so far ahead of the deadline.”
Last week it was revealed that St Michael’s Church of England
School in Camden Street, Camden Town, has been looking for a Christian
headteacher since January last year.
Governors there have blamed the problem on a national shortage
of active Christian teachers.
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