‘A hellish journey to turn the school around’

When headteacher Michelle King was told her school was inadequate she said she was not ashamed to say it left her “shocked, appalled and deeply concerned”.

Accustomed to being judged “good” by Ofsted inspectors before her arrival in 2019, she knew she was at the beginning of “one hell of a journey” to turn around the fortunes of Idsall School in Shropshire.

In 2022, the school was reported to be struggling to tackle bad behavior and not providing enough support to students with special educational needs and those who struggle with reading.

The school has made headlines before, having been used by the Football Association to educate young stars such as Michael Owen and Sol Campbell when it was based in nearby Lilleshall.

Following Ofsted’s decision, Ms King says changes are being made ahead of a decision on the school’s latest inspection in the coming days.

Things became a challenge soon after he joined the school, with the global pandemic lockdown arriving just months after his appointment.

However, when Critical Ofsted report Having been published on September 28, 2022, Ms King knew she would be in the firing line, especially from parents.

“There’s not that trust when you’re new,” she recalls.

“They don’t know you well and the previous chief was here for a long time.”

Ms King said some of the findings left staff feeling “very hurt and battered” and some teachers’ first reaction was to raise questions from Ofsted.

He said it was his role as head teacher to “pick them up and get them going and that’s very difficult when you’re new”.

“(But) I was under no illusion that the school needed improvement in key areas,” she said.

Pupils’ behavior was one of the biggest concerns raised by Ofsted.

It found that “many students do not feel safe” and some reported “persistent sexual harassment or discriminatory behavior from their peers”.

The watchdog’s report also said pupils “don’t trust teachers to deal with their concerns, so they don’t report incidents”.

Ms King said she believed there had been a “lack of consistency” in how challenging behavior was dealt with.

Assistant head Casey Bailey, who is responsible for “behaviour and attitudes”, said: “Where there is not clarity, it means students don’t know exactly where they stand, staff don’t know exactly where they stand. Where do they stand and that creates gaps, gaps and issues.”

To address this, Ms King said the school “met with a large group of students” to draw up a clear set of rules for pupils to follow.

Mr Bailey, Birmingham’s former poet laureate, said the school is also working hard to reward good behavior and understand and support students who do not meet the school’s rules.

Ashwin, a 17-year-old sixth grade student, said behavior has improved and “teachers are more aggressive towards bad students”.

He also said that the management of behavior was “more systematic”.

Pupil Zak, 16, previously said that “behavior could be improved in some areas”.

However, overall he believed it was a “good school” and not as bad as had been reported in the Ofsted report.

The school has also made changes in many other areas.

For example, the 2022 report highlights concerns over provision for children with special educational needs or disabilities.

It said he did not receive the support he needed in lessons, received a large number of suspensions and “did not experience a good enough education”.

Ms King said the school was working hard to understand the children they were facing and working with parents to create plans to help them, with external providers coming in to provide support.

Ofsted also asked the school to do more to support pupils who were struggling with reading and to recruit more experienced teachers.

There were other recommendations, and Ms King said: “This can be a lonely job and you have to rely on a great team behind you.”

In September 2023, the school joined the Marches Academies Trust, which manages 10 other schools in Shropshire.

Ms King said she did not feel her role was under threat and welcomed the support and advice he had given her.

She said the trust also challenged her and made it easier to collaborate with other schools.

Idsall is hoping that the findings of the latest Ofsted inspection, due to be published before Christmas, will paint it in a better light.

Ms King said that although the school was filled to its capacity of 1,200, she was aware that some parents of Year 6 children were considering sending them elsewhere.

The most recent Ofsted monitoring report in July said that while work to change the culture was progressing, it appeared to have “little impact on some parents’ perceptions”.

Ms King said it was “really hard” to change minds and she had invited parents to watch the changes being made.

But ultimately, he said he recognized that “it’s not really about what we say, it’s about what we do”.