Tag Archives: Ofsted

‘We feel strongly that it does not fairly reflect the evidence’

Ofsted’s inspection of Croydon College and Coulsdon Sixth Form College, conducted in February, resulted in an ‘Inadequate’ rating for the further education institutions Here, in full, is the statement issued this morning on behalf of Caireen Mitchell, the principal and … Continue reading

Posted in Coulsdon, Coulsdon Sixth Form College, Croydon College, Education | Tagged , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

#CroydonInCrisis: College given ‘Inadequate’ Ofsted rating

One of the country’s largest further education institutions has been warned ‘about the risks associated with radicalisation and extremism’ by inspectors who report ‘homophobic taunts’ and young women feeling ‘uncomfortable’ in the college’s common areas Croydon College, in its first … Continue reading

Posted in Coulsdon, Croydon College, Education | Tagged , , , , , , | 2 Comments

South Norwood Primary celebrates ‘Good’ Ofsted report

Staff, pupils and parents at South Norwood Primary were celebrating this week after the school, previously rated as “Inadequate” by inspectors, was judged as “Good” after its latest Ofsted inspection. The external inspection of the school, on Crowther Road, took … Continue reading

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#PennReport: Croydon has been let down by political leaders

CROYDON IN CRISIS: The report into the council’s financial collapse that has been withheld for nearly two years includes damning criticisms of some of the council’s most senior staff and political leaders. EXCLUSIVE by STEVEN DOWNES Croydon’s dysfunctional council went … Continue reading

Posted in Alison Butler, Children's Services, Croydon Council, Guy van Dichele, Hazel Simmonds, Jacqueline Harris-Baker, Jo Negrini, Katherine Kerswell, Lisa Taylor, Paul Scott, Report in the Public Interest, Richard Simpson, Section 114 notice, Shifa Mustafa, Simon Hall, The Penn Report, Tony Newman | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 3 Comments

Best Start centres under threat again from Flemming’s survey

Our council reporter, PEARL LEE, on the latest stitch-up survey being rushed through as a ruse to justify cuts to services for babies and toddlers Here comes another council “survey” where the information scraped from residents will be used to … Continue reading

Posted in Alisa Flemming, Children's Services, Croydon Council, Education, Health, Norbury Park, Schools | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Midnight deadline to complete Ofsted’s SEND survey

By SARAH BOWELL It’s a big week for Croydon, and not just because of Thursday’s council governance referendum. For some families, the bigger news of this week is that Croydon’s SEND department is being visited for an Ofsted inspection. For … Continue reading

Posted in Children's Services, Croydon Council, Education, Health, SEND | Tagged , , , , | 1 Comment

Ofsted discover ‘worrying signs’ of cuts on children’s services

Inspectors from Ofsted have warned that some of the borough’s most vulnerable children may be put at greater risk as a consequence of cuts and redundancies caused by the council’s financial collapse. Ofsted inspectors last month carried out their latest … Continue reading

Posted in Alisa Flemming, Children's Services, Croydon Council, Debbie Jones | Tagged , , , , , , | 2 Comments

Fears over children’s services as another director quits council

CROYDON IN CRISIS: Staff worry that an exodus of colleagues will desert bankrupt council before the worst of the cuts bite. EXCLUSIVE By STEVEN DOWNES Nick Pendry, Croydon’s director of early help and children’s social care, is to follow his … Continue reading

Posted in Children's Services, Croydon Council, Debbie Jones, Nick Pendry, Robert Henderson, Section 114 notice | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | 5 Comments

Newman ally Ali tipped as favourite to be council’s new leader

WALTER CRONXITE on the lacklustre contest among Labour councillors to become the Town Hall’s new chief Croydon Council should have a new leader as soon as tomorrow night. But the appointment looks as if it could present the borough with … Continue reading

Posted in Alisa Flemming, Alison Butler, Children's Services, Crime, Croydon Council, Hamida Ali, Paul Scott, Stuart Collins, Stuart King, Tony Newman, Woodside | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , | 6 Comments

£800 per day exec director job goes to ‘naughty step’ Jones

The Tower Hamlets council official who was in charge of that borough’s schools when Shamima Begum and two other girls were radicalised and escaped to Syria to become “jihadi brides” has just been appointed by Croydon as the borough’s interim … Continue reading

Posted in Alisa Flemming, Children's Services, Croydon Council, Debbie Jones, Robert Henderson | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Ofsted inspection rates Croydon children’s services ‘Good’

It has taken two and a half years, and an extra £25million spent on recruiting staff and providing new equipment, but Croydon Council’s children’s services department has finally been rated as “Good” by Ofsted following its latest inspection. The borough’s … Continue reading

Posted in Alisa Flemming, Children's Services, Croydon Council, Jo Negrini, Nick Pendry, Robert Henderson, Tony Newman | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Ofsted finds ‘sustained progress’ in children’s services

After nearly three years in special measures, Ofsted says that Croydon’s children’s services department is showing “sustained progress”, and is beginning to operate in a manner that properly serves the borough’s most vulnerable young people. The department’s social workers are … Continue reading

Posted in Children's Services, Croydon Council, Nick Pendry, Robert Henderson | Tagged , , , , , | Leave a comment

Council could seek more time to fix problem children’s services

Town Hall reporter KEN LEE on the latest, critical Ofsted report on the council children’s services department, which has 78% vacancy rate among  some of its social work teams Croydon Council could be forced to seek an extension to the … Continue reading

Posted in Alisa Flemming, Barbara Peacock, Bromley Council, Children's Services, Croydon Council, Jo Negrini, Nick Pendry, Robert Henderson, Tony Newman | Tagged , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Croydon social workers ‘demoralised’, say Ofsted inspectors

One year on and Ofsted inspectors are still seriously dissatisfied with the pace of improvement in Croydon’s children’s services department. Croydon’s children’s services were declared “inadequate” in an Ofsted inspectors’ report in September 2017, and today the inspectors have issued … Continue reading

Posted in Alisa Flemming, Children's Services, Croydon Council, Eleni Ioannides, Jo Negrini, Tony Newman | Tagged , , , , , | Leave a comment

Extra council meeting called over children’s services shambles

Croydon is to hold another emergency meeting of the full council in two weeks’ time to discuss the crisis over the borough’s children’s services, when there are sure to be further calls for council leader Tony Newman and members of … Continue reading

Posted in Barbara Peacock, Children's Services, Croydon Council, Jo Negrini, Tony Newman | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

Croydon’s Ofsted crisis: This is too important for politics

CROYDON COMMENTARY: The children’s services report is the greatest crisis to confront the council since the riots six years ago. Except, says STEVEN DOWNES, it is just the local reflection of a national collapse of social work “This is too … Continue reading

Posted in 2018 council elections, Barbara Peacock, Children's Services, Croydon Council, Jo Negrini, Maria Gatland, Tony Newman | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Damning verdict on Croydon’s ‘inadequate’ children’s service

STEVEN DOWNES on a critical report by Ofsted on the council’s failures to provide proper education and support to some of the borough’s most vulnerable children and their families Croydon Council’s provision for some of the borough’s most vulnerable children … Continue reading

Posted in Barbara Peacock, Children's Services, Croydon Council, Education, Jo Negrini, Tony Newman | Tagged , , , , , , , , | 4 Comments

Boswell speaks out on behalf of Croydon’s “heroic” teachers

Canon Colin Boswell used Croydon’s annual civic service yesterday to call on the people of the borough ”to encourage heroic teachers”. The Vicar of Croydon’s remarks came in a sermon to the congregation in Croydon Minster and to the many … Continue reading

Posted in Archbishop Lanfranc, Canon Colin Boswell, Church and religions, Croydon Minster, Education, Manju Shahul Hameed, Parish Church schools, Roke Primary, Schools, Stuart Collins | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

Bishop gives backing to primary head ousted by Ofsted

The Bishop of Southwark has publicly praised the outgoing headmaster of Parish Church junior school, who retired following a controversial Ofsted report which downgraded the school’s rating from “outstanding” to “inadequate”. Bishop Christopher Chessun was the guest of honour on … Continue reading

Posted in Archbishop Lanfranc, Church and religions, Education, Roke Primary, Schools, Waddon | Tagged , , , | Leave a comment

Our two-year-olds need a childhood, not lessons in Latin

SUSAN OLIVER, pictured left, wants the borough’s teaching professionals to come forward and make their voices heard, perhaps even to challenge the controlling orthodoxies of Michael Gove and Ofsted Children should be taught in schools from the age of two … Continue reading

Posted in Education, Riesco Collection, Schools, Susan Oliver | Tagged , , , , , , , | 4 Comments

Lanfranc is latest Croydon school in fear of academisation

GENE BRODIE, our education correspondent, wades through the morass of educational half-truths to investigate why private education is quite so popular in Croydon This week’s latest Ofsted tables of school performance by borough showed that Greater London performed especially well. … Continue reading

Posted in Archbishop Lanfranc, Croydon Council, Education, Gavin Barwell, Harris Academy Crystal Palace, Schools, Trinity School | Tagged , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

Roke parents in legal challenge against “dictator” Gove

The Save Roke group is to launch a legal challenge to the plans of Michael Gove, the education minister, to hand their primary school over to a private academy. The group announced its plans last night, and is working with … Continue reading

Posted in Education, Roke Primary, Schools | Tagged , , , , , , , | 3 Comments

Angry Roke parents accuse minister of misleading over status

Parents of children at Roke Primary in Kenley have responded angrily to a letter from Department for Education under-secretary Lord Nash – which Inside Croydon published last month – effectively accusing the Tory peer of deliberately misleading over results and … Continue reading

Posted in Education, Roke Primary, Schools | Tagged , , , , , , , | 2 Comments

Nash letter dashes hopes for Roke to escape Harris

Parents, governors and staff at Roke Primary were left “shattered” last week, after the local MP, Richard Ottaway, passed on to them a letter he had received from Lord Nash, the under-secretary at the Department for Education. Nash’s letter runs … Continue reading

Posted in Education, Kenley, Richard Ottaway MP, Roke Primary | Tagged , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Tory councillor says Gove’s academy conduct is “woeful”

A Conservative councillor in Croydon has made an extraordinary attack against Michael Gove over the way in which the Tory-led government’s education secretary and his department is steamrolling through the transfer of a local primary school. In a rare, if … Continue reading

Posted in Education, Roke Primary, Schools | Tagged , , , , , , , | 2 Comments