Improving Fenland secondary school praised by Ofsted for making progress

A FENLAND secondary school which was given notice to improve is making progress, say government inspectors.

Ofsted inspectors visited St Clement’s High School, in Terrington St Clement, last month. The 600-pupil school, which has suffered a number of senior staff changes, was given notice to improve in October 2009.

The report said: “Her Majesty’s Chief Inspector is of the opinion that the school no longer requires significant improvement”.

“St Clement’s High School is now a satisfactory but improving school with several good features.

“As the result of a strong focus on improving areas of weakness, the school has fully addressed the concerns raised by the last inspection, and has improved key areas of provision.”

Inspectors said attainment in both GCSE Maths and English rose in 2010 and that pass rates in vocational subjects was above average while standards across the school are rising “in line with national expectations”.

However, they were critical of the way students of higher ability were taught, emphasised the need for improved marking feedback, and felt some students’ behaviour “impaired the progress of others”.

In their overall assessment, the inspectors rated the school as ‘satisfactory’ - a Grade 3 - and it’s capacity to improve as ‘good’, which is classed as Grade 2. Grade 1 is deemed to be ‘outstanding’ and Grade 4 is deemed to be ‘inadequate’.