The high standards reached by pupils, excellent levels of achievement, improvements in attendance and teaching and the headteacher’s inspirational leadership have all led to an outstanding rating by government Ofsted inspectors of Arthur Mellows Village College.
Inspectors visited the school on Helpston Road, Glinton, near Peterborough, on Tuesday 10 and Wednesday 11 November 2009 and rated its overall effectiveness and its capacity for improvement as outstanding. The report said: “Arthur Mellows Village College is an outstanding school that has improved greatly over the past few years. Standards are high and students’ achievement is excellent. Many aspects of the students’ personal development are outstanding, including the extent to which they develop personal skills to prepare them for future life.”
Inspectors found that central to the improved success of the school is the inspirational leadership of headteacher Mike Sandeman, who has brought together a strong team of leaders with a shared vision and ambition to make the school the best it can be. Standards and achievement were also found to have improved significantly, in particular some groups of students who were previously underachieving are now making good progress. Improvements were also noted in attendance, in the quality of the curriculum and in the standard of teaching. As part of the inspection Ofsted invited all parents and carers to complete a questionnaire about their views of the school. A majority of parents either agreed or strongly agreed that their child enjoys school, is kept safe and is making enough progress. A majority of parents also strongly agreed or agreed that teaching is good and that overall they are happy with their child’s experience at the school.
The school’s sixth form was rated as good and sixth formers are excellent role models for younger students. Governors support and challenge the school extremely well and have been instrumental in shaping the direction of the school to drive improvements. Inspectors found that teaching was good with some outstanding features, which has resulted in pupils reaching high standards at the end of Year 9 and Year 11. Pupils’ behaviour is good, they feel safe in school and have an excellent understanding of what it means to lead a healthy life style. The report added: “This is a school with a growing reputation for providing high quality education. The fact that the school’s accurate self-evaluation has led to so many improvements in such a relatively short time indicates that it has an excellent capacity to improve even further. The school provides outstanding value for money.”
Councillor John Holdich, cabinet member for education, skills and university, and a governor of the school, said: “Significant improvements driven by the headteacher, staff, governors, pupils and parents have been made at Arthur Mellows Village College and I am glad inspectors have recognised this. Over the last three years standards have improved and levels of achievement have been significantly above the national average with 90 per cent of pupils achieving five A* to C grades and more than 70 per cent achieving eights A* to C grades in this summer’s GCSE exams.
“The school is helping to ensure that its pupils receive the best start in life and reach their full potential.”
Headteacher Mr Sandeman said: “I am delighted for the college and the student body as the rating of outstanding reflects on their hard work and commitment. The inspectors felt that the students themselves were a credit to the local community and Peterborough in general and their pride in the college and the success they achieved shone through.”
