Gladstone Park School

By LUCY COX who is a parent at the school.

At the end of the Autumn term Gladstone Park School were inspected by OFSTED, the school is very well regarded in the borough and by parents. It previously had been given a good under the old OFSTED frame work, so the school community was shocked to hear that OFSTED considered it inadequate. They have put it in to category 4, which allows the DoE to force it to become an academy.

The report admitted that the school takes children in below national expectations, and they leave above. That the school has especially good results in maths and an ethos which fosters music and art and the children are happy, safe and look after each other.

Brent is one of the poorest boroughs in london and one of the mot ethnically diverse, OFTED found that the school was very good at supporting children as they learned English.

They found a slowing in progress in years 3, 4, &5. This is something the school had already identified and was working on through staff training and support from the local authority.

OFSTED have put it in to category 4, which allows the DoE to force it to become an academy. This is not something parents are prepared to take lying down. Two meetings to discuss the way forward have been well attended and angry. Typical comments include “The school has been set up to fail” and “It’s like a conspiracy”.

There is another meeting this week and GP parents are making links with parents at Roke who are in a very similar situation.