A BARNSLEY school deemed to have been failing for more than five years has finally been taken out of special measures and rated a 'good' school by Ofsted education inspectors.
Carlton Community College has been in special measures - Ofsted's most serious category of failing schools - since January 2012. Before that it had been deemed inadequate and requiring 'significant improvement' since September 2010.
This week, Ofsted's latest inspection report grades the school 'good' in every area, which is the second highest rating it can give.
"We're absolutely delighted," said Paul Tarn, regional chief executive for Outwood Grange Academies Trust, which has been working with the school more than a year. It will officially become its 'sponsor' when Carlton formally becomes an academy on February 1.
When Outwood began working with the school it promised to dramatically turnaround serious behaviour problems and extremely poor GCSE exam results. Just 29 per cent of pupils achieved five good GCSE grades including maths and English in 2014, but last summer this rocketed to 52 per cent making it one of the most improved schools in the country, and moved it from the bottom of the Barnsley results league table to third from top.
But Mr Tarn said those results, and the latest Ofsted report, did not mean 'job done'. "This is just the beginning," he said. "I think it's a very exciting time for Carlton Community College, and our other academy at Shafton."
Full story in the Barnsley Chronicle, dated January 8 2015.
