Cavendish Primary School remains in special measures after Ofsted visit, despite improvements

A beleaguered village school will remain in special measures, despite progress recorded by inspectors during its most recent visit.

Ofsted has told Cavendish Primary School that further improvements are required, after the first monitoring visit since it received an inadequate rating last year.

A full inspection found significant failings at the school in April 2024 – concluding significant staff and leadership turnover had contributed to its decline.

As a result it was placed into special measures, which means external support has been commissioned to help improve standards.

The Cavendish school is now led by interim executive headteacher Sean Cornish, who has been seconded two days a week from Capel St Mary, with a consultant head from another academy trust working another two days.

Ofsted held a monitoring visit in November to gauge what progress had been made in the six months following the inspection.

In an open letter published this month, inspector Jessie Linsley praised the new leaders for driving positive change, including greater help for staff so they can carry out their roles effectively.

However, she said the school still heavily relied on external support and that ‘more work is necessary for the school to no longer be judged as requiring special measures’.

Among the areas identified as needing improvement are training for staff, to improve early years education, as well as provisions for children with special educational needs or disabilities (SEND).

“Pupils are learning a sequenced, broad and highly structured curriculum,” the letter reads.

“Further monitoring of how effectively the curriculum is implemented and training to support staff to teach all subjects effectively are required, but this has improved since the previous inspection.

“The school’s staff have mostly remained the same since the previous inspection. They are dedicated to improving the school, but have found the leadership changes challenging.

“Leaders have developed appropriate plans to improve the quality of education that pupils receive.

“These accurately identify the areas that require further improvement and outline the necessary steps to achieve that outcome.

“However, currently, it is still unclear who will be responsible for completing this important work after December 2024.”