THE headteacher of a Basingstoke secondary school which is on its way to becoming “good” said education in the town is improving.

Speaking to the Gazette following a positive monitoring visit in July at Aldworth School, headteacher Paul Jenkins said Basingstoke schools have had “a reputation they don’t deserve”.

With many parents sending their children out of the town to schools in other areas in the past, Mr Jenkins said this has now improved, with last year seeing an increase in students applying to local schools.

He credits this change to the schools working together to improve, explaining: “It’s about making the community proud and giving them the schools they deserve. The schools are getting better at working together. Being competitive doesn’t benefit anyone.”

However, Mr Jenkins expressed his frustration that Aldworth will have to remain a school which “requires improvement” by Ofsted, because he said the education watchdog is behind with full inspections which are needed to change a judgement.

“I wanted to get Aldworth to good before I left, but Ofsted are so far behind this is probably the closest I’m going to get,” he said, adding that he was pleased with the outcome of the monitoring visit, particularly given the challenges of the pandemic.

Mr Jenkins was brought in to lead Aldworth in January 2020, before becoming executive headteacher in May 2020. He now leads both Aldworth and Court Moor School in Fleet.

He will hand over the leadership role to Chris Rice in September 2022, who is currently head of school at Aldworth.

In a letter sent to Mr Jenkins on September 14, following the monitoring visit, Ofsted said: “Leaders and those responsible for governance are taking effective action for the school to become a good school.”

The inspection was the first since the Covid-19 pandemic began, and inspector Harry Ingham said he took the impact of this into account in his evaluation.

He said: “You and your leadership team are determined to make the changes that are needed to make Aldworth a good school. You are ambitious for all pupils and passionate about promoting the school’s motto of ‘building bright futures’. Increasing numbers of staff share your high aspirations.

“You have been steadfast in maintaining a rapid pace of improvement, despite the challenges of the last year caused by the national pandemic.”

The inspector found that pupils’ attitudes to learning are “more positive” and that far fewer pupils have been removed from lessons because of poor behaviour.

He added: “In the lessons I visited, pupils were focused on their work, respectful and attentive. Many staff feel that pupils’ behaviour has improved significantly since the previous inspection.”

Mr Ingham also found that teachers had developed ways to share pertinent information about pupils with special educations needs and/or disabilities; that reading is a priority; and that governors have an “accurate understanding of their responsibilities and the school’s strengths and weaknesses”.

Mr Jenkins said the positive outcome of the visit was “testament to the positivity of the community”, adding: “Basingstoke people are very proud of their community and it’s nice to work in a community that wants to get better. It has that will.”

The headteacher was pleased that Ofsted recognised pupils’ behaviour had improved, saying: “Traditionally, Aldworth had a good reputation but it went downhill. I was shocked when I came with the behaviour. I was expecting the whole school to be awful but there were fantastic teachers. There wasn’t clear leadership and the students didn’t have high enough aspirations.

“Ofsted recognised the improvement in behaviour which is critical to learning. It’s not the same school now.”

He praised staff at the school for their hard work, and thanked parents for their support.