Hurlingham & Chelsea School gets the all-clear from Ofsted

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Hurlingham & Chelsea School, in Fulham, has been given the all-clear by government inspectors, who have taken the school out of 'special measures'.

The clean bill of health from inspection body Ofsted comes just over a year after new headteacher Phil Cross arrived at the school and only 18 months after the school was put into special measures - marking an exceptional turnaround in well under the usual two years for schools in this category.

Mr Cross, who took up his post in September last year, said: "This is fantastic news and just reward for a great deal of hard work. It has been a genuine team effort. The staff and students have been brilliant in supporting the many changes that have taken place. Our aim now is to provide the very best community secondary education in London."

Inspectors gave Hurlingham & Chelsea the all-clear after a rigorous assessment on Wednesday and Thursday last week (16 and 17 November) and are preparing a report outlining the reasons for their decision. Among the areas of improvement that the report is expected to highlight are:
* Improved educational standards, with the school now on course to perform even better.
* The quality of teaching and learning has improved markedly and is consistently and reliably monitored by the headteacher and senior staff.
* Expectations of students and staff are much higher.
* Strong leadership. New headteacher, Phil Cross, has radically restructured his senior management team at the school so that all senior staff also have responsibility for particular subject areas. Mr Cross leads by example and regularly teaches maths.
* Attendance and punctuality of pupils and their behaviour and attitudes have improved significantly. The school has good procedures in place to deal with attendance and punctuality.
* A school improvement partnership board has been set up to complement the governing body. This comprises the headteacher, chair of governors, a government education adviser and representatives from the council's education department.

The council has supported Mr Cross, staff and governors in turning around the school by providing expertise - via the education department's team of school improvement advisers - and resources - in the form of a £600,000 capital grant, which has enabled improvements to facilities including a new dance studio, lecture theatre, computer equipment and general improvements to the school environment. The development of a fully-equipped library and learning resource base, equipped with state-of-the-art computer facilities and provision for supporting pupils with special educational needs, is also under way.

Cllr Melanie Smallman, Hammersmith & Fulham Council's cabinet member for education, said: "Hurlingham and Chelsea School has seen a rapid and remarkable transformation in the short time that Phil Cross has been headteacher. This is a really impressive achievement that is thanks to the hard work of Mr Cross, his staff, governors and parents as well as the support of the council. This is an important step towards our goal of ensuring that all young people in the borough have access to the highest quality secondary education and we hope parents will be encouraged by the considerable improvements at Hurlingham and Chelsea when choosing a school for their children. I would urge them to contact the school and go and see it for themselves."

November 27, 2005