A Dulwich secondary school has been rated ‘outstanding’ in all areas – after a visit from nine Ofsted inspectors.
Kingsdale Foundation School, a mixed secondary school in Alleyn Park, was rated ‘good’ during a previous inspection in 2012 but impressed inspectors to be rated ‘outstanding’ across the board this month.
The school was praised for its “culture of high ambition and expectation that forms the backbone for successes” and its “harmonious environment”.
“Pupils’ personal development and welfare is outstanding because of the care and attention that staff pay to making pupils’ time in school productive and safe,” inspectors said in their report.
“Pupils’ behaviour is outstanding because their day-to-day conduct usually matches staff’s high expectations.
“The most able and disadvantaged pupils make strong progress because teachers’ planning anticipates their needs.”
The only area inspectors said could be improved on was to ensure that “low-prior-attaining pupils make the same strong progress as their peers consistently across the curriculum”.
Headteacher Steve Morrison said the Kingsdale community had worked with “dedication and passion” to achieve the “rare tribute” from Ofsted.
“It is not every day a school is visited by nine Ofsted Inspectors including four of Her Majesty’s Inspectors,” he said.
“Since our previous inspection we had become the highest attaining school in Southwark according to the Government’s tough new more rigorous Attainment 8 measure and one of the top achieving non-selective schools in the country.
“At the same time, we maintained our status as one of the most popular and oversubscribed schools in south London.
“We believe in our students, staff and parents but we also realised this was no guarantee of success under the increasingly challenging Ofsted framework.
“Therefore, it was with great pleasure we received Ofsted’s perfect six ‘outstanding’ judgements across all Key Stages.
“We believe it is a confirmation that we are on the right path and that there is still a place in our secondary education system for individuality, creativity, choice, imagination and innovation.”
The full inspection report is available on Ofsted’s website.