Two Ofsted ratings for sixth form

The varying reports came less than a week apart

A sixth form was given two different Ofsted ratings just a week apart.

Marling School for boys, in Stroud, Gloucestershire, shares its sixth form with nearby Stroud High, which is a girls' school.

But the two successive Ofsted reports rated the sixth form as good, followed by satisfactory. Marling School has put in an appeal.

An Ofsted spokesman said the reports differed because the school contained two sixth forms working together.

'Profound effect'

Roger Lock, head teacher of Marling School, told the BBC: "It is nonsense on stilts - and what we are looking for now is some sort of consistency of approach and trying to find the answers as to why these reports weren't consistent.

"It has an impact on the wider community - not just on staff and students, but on the parents who don't recognise it as the school they send their sons and daughters to.

"It also has a profound effect on our joint director of sixth form, who is one week judged as being good and the next week judged as being satisfactory.

"We have put in an initial appeal and we are waiting to hear now."

An Ofsted spokesperson said: "There is no mystery about why we came to two different judgements in this case. It is important to remember that these are two separate sixth forms working together.

'Legally separate'

"It is not - for example - a single sixth-form college and because they are legally separate, our inspectors had to consider the outcomes for the boys from Marling School separately from that of the girls from Stroud High School.

"Inspectors found that there were some differences in the achievement of the two sets of students. As a result, the reports are different. The judgement on achievement is central to how inspectors evaluate leadership and management."

The spokesman said inspections looked at how all staff contributed to leadership and management and how they direct improvement.

"We do not merely judge the head teacher or the work, in this case, of a head of sixth form centre," he said.

"Therefore, in a combined sixth form, if there are differences in the outcomes for learners, it is natural for our inspectors to arrive at different judgements for leadership and management of the sixth forms."