West Craven
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School on track to improve, says Ofsted
Extra efforts should see a Pendle high school make the grade in the months and years to come, education watchdogs have said.
Inspectors from Ofsted said West Craven High Technology College, in Barnoldswick, provides a satisfactory standard of education for its 710 pupils.
And they have drafted a four-point action plan to ensure that headteacher Arnold Kuchartschuk and his staff continue along the right path.
Test scores at key stage three in English, maths and science were lower than expected, but reporting inspector Peter Cox remained confident the school was on course to improve. He said: "The recently strengthened senior leadership team, under the direction of a caring and committed headteacher, is well positioned to ensure that the improvements already seen continue more rapidly.
"By accelerating improvement, the gap between the school's achievement and standards and that expected nationally is reducing.
"The school is now ensuring that students of all abilities reach the expected standards in relation to their starting points."
Maths results were close to the national average and GCSE exam results were encouraging, the inspectors observed. Nearly all students leave the school with five or more GCSE exam grades, with a "high proportion" reaching at least grade C in their subjects, including maths and English.
The inspectors were pleased that the English department had been strengthened following the appointment of specialist teachers.
Mr Cox said: "The quality of teaching varies and is satisfactory overall, although almost a third of the lessons seen were good."
The watchdogs were also impressed with provisions made by the school to enable students to study off-site for a GCSE in engineering.
"Parents are, in the main, very supportive of the school and comment on the friendliness and helpfulness of staff," said Mr Cox.
"However, some have expressed a desire to be more fully informed of what is going on in the school."
He has called for improvements at key stage four to be accelerated, while also raising standards at key stage three, especially in English and science.
The report also called for improvements to systems of monitoring student performance.
3:11pm Friday 18th April 2008
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