Joy as school taken out of special measures
A previously inadequate Powys school has been taken out of special measures after two years.
Builth Wells High School will be removed from the list of schools requiring special measures, according to Estyn, Her Majesty’s Inspectorate for Education and Training in Wales.
The school has been judged to have made sufficient progress in relation to the recommendations following a core inspection in October 2015.
Staff and pupils at Builth Wells High School are celebrating after receiving the good news.
Read the full Estyn report on Builth Wells High School here
Ionwen Spowage, headteacher, said: “Everyone is absolutely delighted at this news.
“The current leadership team took over in September 2015, so the team had only been here a matter of weeks before the school was placed in special measures.
“For the last two years we have worked very hard, collectively with the support of governors.”
The report, published following an Estyn visit last month, outlined provisional data for 2017, which indicated that since the core inspection two years ago, performance at Key Stage 4 has improved in the majority of indicators, with many pupils making suitable progress in lessons.
Reporting Inspector, Tony Sparks said: “There has been strong progress in addressing the recommendation.”
Mrs Spowage said since the core inspection, the school has implemented a supportive performance management system, which has been used to address areas of underperformance in order to improve standards and the quality of teaching.
Mrs Spowage said: “We have built a new school, from scratch, we have brand new systems for every area. Our approach to improvement has been systematic and more importantly consistent.
"I wanted the school to come out of special measures on my watch and I was determined that the way in which we did that would not be a quick fix, it would be sustainable long term.””
The report found that senior leaders and governors worked well together to provide appropriate challenge and support to staff, including when underperformance is identified.
The school has focused on improving literacy at all levels and an electronic system for recording pupil behaviour has been introduced. It has been used to recognise good behaviour and identify any instances of poor behaviour and has contributed to nearly all pupils behaving well in lessons and around the school.
Mrs Spowage added: “This announcement is great because it recognises the work which has been done to date but it is also the start of something new and we will continue to improve.”
