Oxfordshire’s GCSE Results ‘Worse Than Slough’

THERE are to be sweeping changes to Oxfordshire’s secondary schools according to the county’s education chief.
Oxfordshire County Council’s Janet Tomlinson has pledged to deliver huge improvements to Oxfordshire’s state schools.
According to a statement today, despite steady progress in many results, she believes that the pace of change is still too slow, saying that Oxfordshire lags behind similar counties such as Cambridgeshire, adding, “even Slough’s GCSE results are better. “

A former headteacher, Mrs Tomlinson was head of education in Slough before coming to Oxfordshire, where she achieved impressive results. She believes that while there are many good teachers in Oxfordshire schools, there have been pockets of complacency, with some staff having been ?in denial? about their school’s overall performance.

Mrs Tomlinson said: ?It is a striking fact that at the moment, in general children in Slough have a higher chance of getting good GCSEs than children in Oxfordshire. Given the social and economic profile of Oxfordshire, our schools should be doing much better.

?Analysis of current schools? test and exam results show Oxfordshire to be at around the national average. But if you look at other relatively affluent counties with similar blends of market towns, cities and rural areas, Oxfordshire is at the bottom.

?Not a single secondary school in Oxfordshire has yet been judged as outstanding by Ofsted and that isn’t good enough, ? she said.

“We cannot achieve this improvement alone – it needs the support of parents and carers – but we must ensure that we help Oxfordshire children to achieve better results in the future. We should aspire to see results that are at least as good as those in similar counties and eventually even better.”

Proposed changes:

Decisive early intervention when schools are in danger of failing, or are considered to be ?coasting? rather than improving.

Teams of specialist subject teachers and advisers will be brought in to support schools that are not progressing sufficiently.

Head teachers and their staff will be encouraged to visit successful schools elsewhere to learn from examples of best practice.

An accreditation scheme called ?Excellence in Oxfordshire? will be launched to recognise and reward successful schools.

The council?s School Improvement Service will be completely overhauled, with new experts appointed
multi-agency support teams, including health workers, will be sent into schools in areas with high levels of homelessness or other social problems, to give greater support.

Photo: Janet Tomlinson