Best Practice

Bouncing back from a poor school inspection

Some of the most challenging times in a headteacher’s career can be after a poor inspection outcome. Nick Bannister meets leaders who have helped their schools to bounce back after inspection setbacks

Bringing a school out of special measures might seem a complex challenge for any headteacher.

But for Sarah Fielding, co-headteacher at Haydn Primary School in Nottingham, keeping it simple was the best approach.

When she joined the school in 2007, Haydn was up against it. Inspectors had judged the school inadequate in the February but just two years later the school had earned a rating of good with outstanding features.

“When a school is in crisis it’s much simpler than when it is not in crisis,” explained Ms Fielding.

She continued: “Usually the areas to work on have already been defined for you. Then it is a case of the leader putting in an approach to address the areas of development in the school improvement plan. They need to make sure that staff know what the focus is and why and how we are going to improve it. 

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