Bexhill High - urgent action needed

Progress is too slow and pupils have not achieved as much as they should, according to Ofsted inspectors following their monitoring visit this month.

They identified a number of issues that require "urgent action" to take the school forward in advance of the move to the new premises in October.

As a result chief executive Mike Conn is contacting all parents today to outline plans for the immediate future.

He admits mistakes have been made in the running of Bexhill High and development of the new $37 million site in Gunters Lane which impacted on student performance.

He commented: "There can be no doubt, that as a result of the difficulties and challenges we have faced during the past few years, student progress has suffered.

"My concentrating on the new school coupled with recruitment difficulties, as well as long term sickness at senior level, caused a lack of clarity in the management roles at the school and a loss of focus on raising achievement.

"Student progress and achievement were affected and the GCSE results reflected this.

"The situation was recognised, as you know, during the autumn of last year when adjustments were made to enable clearer leadership roles to facilitate specific actions. We engaged the assistance of Ninestiles

Plus to improve Year 11 English and Maths results. Progress has been made since then but it is not fast enough."

Mike has now returned to run the school on a daily basis as was reported in the Observer last week.

He recognised the need for immediate action and said: "There can be no delay as simply waiting for the better facilities is not the answer.

"There has to be a concentrated focus on raising the quality of teaching and learning in the school with incremental actions and targets within a tight timescale."

He admitted there is now pressure to tackle the immediate problems and is telling parents these are being dealt with "in a systematic and determined way".

Having brought in Sir Dexter Hutt's education company to work with Year 11 pupils, Mike is confident that results this year will be better, but is "disappointed" that progress has not been steadier.

He felt there had been "a lack of sharp focus" because his attention was split between the running of the school and overseeing the development of the new site.

He told the Observer: "Any lack of focus is not good for children. I am really sad about that.

"I am disappointed the progress has not been quick enough...therefore there must have been some students who could have done better, and for that I am really sorry, and I am affected by that.

"This is a wake-up call. What we have done is a three and a half year magnificent project, and maybe taken our eye off the ball a little bit."

He has offered to make himself available to speak to any concerned parents during next week's half term break.