Dear Parent/Carer,
I am delighted to write to you to share details of our full OFSTED inspection which took place in June 2021. The full inspection report is now published on our website and will also be published over the course of the coming days on the OFSTED website. The key headline from the inspection is that we are now judged to be a “good” school.
As well as our overall effectiveness being graded “good”, we have been graded “good” in every single category- namely Leadership and Management, Quality of Education, Behaviour and Attitudes and Personal Development.
The report confirms that:
· “staff provide pupils with exceptional pastoral support….all staff go to great lengths to keep pupils as safe as possible”
· “leaders have worked extremely well together, using their various strengths, to drive significant improvements across the school”.
· “the highly effective provision for pupils with SEND enables them to engage positively and successfully in their learning”.
· “reading is a high priority and pupils receive intensive support to improve their reading skills”.
· “teachers adapt and personalise the school’s curriculum skilfully in response to pupils’ needs”.
· “personal development is supported extremely well by the life-skills and well-being curricula”.
· “leaders have taken very effective action to improve pupils’ overall attendance”.
Perhaps even more importantly, the report opens with the observation that “All staff are committed to the Edge Pledge. It successfully helps pupils to make positive choices to keep themselves safe, encourages pupils to aspire to succeed, and develops pupils’ respect for one another and others”.
As you are no doubt aware, I am in my third year as Principal and The Edge has been transformed since its previous full inspection in 2018 (when it was deemed to require “special measures”), reflected in the fact that we are now an oversubscribed school. This is an even more impressive achievement given all that we have had to overcome together since March 2020 and the challenges posed by the Coronavirus pandemic. Our continuing momentum is thanks to the relentless hard work of the whole team of staff and the support we receive from our governing body as well as yourselves- I would also like to thank our colleagues at the Birmingham Education Partnership, REACH AP School and Aspire AP School who have supported us at every stage of the journey.
We fully accept all findings of the report and are moving quickly on addressing the areas for development raised around further refining our curriculum, particularly the development of ICT.
We will now continue to work tirelessly on our journey towards becoming an “outstanding” school at the heart of Northfield that teaches our fantastic students how to be “Safe, Ready and Respectful”. Once more, I would like to thank you all for your continued support. Please feel free to contact me directly if you have any questions regarding this letter, my direct e-mail is [email protected].
Yours faithfully,
Andrew Wakefield
Principal