Charlton School

Staff and pupils at a Telford secondary school are celebrating after their latest Ofsted inspection rated them as ‘good’.

In the first inspection since Covid 19, Ofsted representatives visited Charlton School, in Wellington, and met with trustees, governors, the principal, senior leaders, subject leaders, pastoral leaders, teachers, students and pupils.

They rated Charlton as officially ‘good’ in all areas, including the quality of education, leadership and management, behaviour and attitudes, and personal development.

Principal Andy McNaughton said: “We are delighted that the exceptional progress the school has made over the past few years has been formally recognised.

“Although safeguarding in school is not a graded area, it was deemed to be effective and a real strength, with the inspectors commenting that it is exceptionally well-embedded in our culture.”

The Ofsted report said: “Charlton School leaders and pupils share the same high aspirations. Relationships between pupils and staff are warm and respectful. Teachers treat pupils as individuals, and pupils welcome this.

“The extra-curricular programme is rich and diverse. Pupils regularly take part in a range of clubs such as baking, dance and board games, and value being able to participate in the Duke of Edinburgh Award scheme, and school productions.

“Opportunities such as trips to art galleries for art, Berlin for history and to amusement parks (Euro Disney) for performing arts enhance the curriculum.”

Charlton School is part of the Learning Community Trust and has over 1,200 pupils on the school roll. Chair of the Trust, Mike Briscoe, welcomed the news, “I am delighted that the Ofsted Team rightly recognised the strengths at Charlton and it has been judged to be Good - learners and the community can certainly be proud of their school. Congratulations must go to the leadership team, staff and governors, who have worked tirelessly to make Charlton a Good school, as a Trust we will continue to support Charlton and all of our schools to be the best they can be”.

Inspectors particularly focused on English, art, history, mathematics and technology during their visit, sitting in on lessons and speaking to teachers and pupils about their learning.

They said pupils understood and followed the school vision of ‘building knowledge, developing character, and inspiring futures’, and said pupils felt safe and ‘knew who to talk to about any concerns they may have’.

Mr McNaughton said: “We are all celebrating the results of the inspection – our stakeholders, staff, governors, the Learning Community Trust, parents, and not least, our wonderful students.

“The inspectors praised our ambitious and well-sequenced curriculum, and welcomed the fact that all our pupils, including those with special educational needs and/or disabilities, followed the same one.

“For now, we are rightly celebrating this overall rating among our school community, but as a school we will not stop here.

“We will continue to work tirelessly to ensure we are providing the best possible education for our students, and we will continue to challenge all our students to be the best that they can be.”

You can view the report here.