Bournville School Ofsted report: Bournville All-Through School is celebrating the most positive Ofsted Inspection in its history – after meeting the expected standard across Years 1 through to 11.
It comes after a long journey of challenges, restructure and improvement, which began in 2013 when Bournville School and Sixth Form Centre, as it was then known, was placed in special measures before switching to an academy model.
More than two decades later and with the support, expertise and investment from Fairfax Multi-Academy Trust, Bournville is now a place where inspectors say pupils feel a clear sense of belonging, happiness and pride in their school.
Achievement, Attendance and Behaviour, Curriculum and Teaching, Inclusion, Leadership and Governance, and Personal Development and Wellbeing were all rated ‘Expected Standard’ – with safeguarding standards also fully met and no areas of significant concern.
Bournville’s onsite alternative provision, where students who are not attending mainstream education can study vocational courses such as hair and beauty, also demonstrated ‘leader’s ethical decision making to support pupils with additional barriers or vulnerabilities,’ according to inspectors.
Head of Academy, Ms Dhinsa, said: “To have the caring, inclusive and ambitious school we have built officially recognised is a real cause for celebration for our pupils, staff and families – because this report really does belong to us all.”
“There is so much in the inspection report to be proud of, but it means a lot to staff that the inspectors saw just how much our parents and carers appreciate the school’s positive impact on their children’s lives. We have always been a community school and those relationships and their support matter enormously to us.”
Inspectors also described leadership as ‘robust’ and said, ‘teachers across all key stages demonstrated secure subject knowledge’ with a ‘well-sequenced curriculum’ enabling students ‘to deepen their knowledge.’
Executive Principal Simon Mallett, who has been a senior leader in Birmingham Schools for 13 years, works closely with Ms Dhinsa to support the school’s continued improvement.
He said: “The inspection team saw what we see every day; pupils who are proud of their school, staff who care deeply about the children they serve and a community that is increasingly confident in the direction of travel.
“We are proud that our pupils now attend more, behave better and learn more, and we are determined to continue building on this momentum.”
Chief Executive Officer of Fairfax Multi-Academy Trust, Simon Jones, said: “These vast improvements haven’t happened overnight. Huge strides have been made in recent years and pupils are benefiting from stronger leadership, better teaching, improved behaviour and a culture where they feel they belong.
“That’s now been recognised in Bournville School’s Ofsted report, but inspection outcomes are always about far more than a set of ratings. It demonstrates what can be achieved when a community, a school and a trust work together with a shared sense of purpose.”
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