Published: Friday, 3rd April, 2009 12:45pm
Borough steps in after 'worse than expected' exam results
by Inderdeep Bains
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EDUCATION chiefs in the Royal Borough have stepped in after four schools failed to meet their performance expectations.
Key Stage Two results for 2008 published on Wednesday revealed 'worse then expected' results from Dedworth Middle, Trevelyan Middle, Cookham Rise Primary and Woodlands Park Primary Schools.
Despite this the borough managed to achieve its best ever results in Maths and English. Of the 30 schools in the borough, 26 are performing either as expected or better, with eight schools of these performing 'significantly better' then expected.
The borough is now offering the ailing four schools a helping hand to improve their performance. Two new headteachers have already been appointed at Trevelyan Middle in Windsor and Cookham Rise in Cookham, with a third to start next term at Woodlands Primary in Maidenhead.
The schools' contextual value added scores, which shows how much pupils progress taking into account various factors such as ethnicity and first language, are all below the average of 100.
A spokesman for the borough said: "The Royal Borough is actively supporting these schools to help them improve their performance. Trevelyan and Cookham Rise now have new headteachers. Woodlands Park is due to have a new headteacher next term, who will be mentored by an outstanding headteacher within the borough. Dedworth has already begun to address the circumstances that led to low maths results."
At Dedworth Middle School in Smiths' Lane, just 55 per cent of the 104 students achieved level four or above in both Maths and English. This figure was just 53 per cent of the 218 students at Cookham Rise, 47 per cent of the 182 students at Woodlands Park and 63 per cent of the 231 students at Trevelyan.
Cllr John Fido, who is a governor at Dedworth Middle, said: "Overall the school is improving dramatically. The problems are being addressed and I have every confidence that the measures being taken by the headteacher."
