For the first time in history, Samuel Rhodes School in Islington gets an ’outstanding’ review by The Office for Standards in Education (Ofsted).The report first published by Ofsted on January 11, marks Samuel Rhodes School for children with moderate learning difficulties as ‘outstanding’ in every category.
Head Teacher Julie Keylock was thrilled when she heard the news.
She said: “It’s fantastic and it really means that we know what we’re doing and that we’re all going in the right direction.”
Mrs Keylock, who became the headteacher of the school in 2009 after it had been marked as ‘good’ by Ofsted inspection, says that she has seen “phenomenal change” at the school over the last three years.
Mrs Keylock added: “We had a vision, we worked towards that vision and we realised that vision.”
The joy amongst pupils and parents is clear to see after the recent inspection.
Father David Richardson brought his 11-year-old son Ben to Samuel Rhodes in September last year.
Mr Richardson said: “I have seen a lot of change in my son, he’s reading writing, everything. He’s really coming on.”When asked if the school needed to make any further changes to better itself, Mr Richardson could not think of any.
He added: “I think they’re doing an outstanding job. They have a lot of patience with the kids, they [the pupils] are moving ahead every day… Ben’s happy here and he loves coming to school.”
Headteacher Julie Keylock said that students, staff and parents are pleased with the result of the recent inspection.
She said: “They’re absolutely over the moon, excited, proud…It’s a significant achievement and it’s even more significant in the light [of] the new framework [that’s] much more rigorous. So to go from ‘good’ to ‘outstanding’ when some ‘outstanding’ schools have gone down two notches really is amazing.”
According to the headteacher, this top review will help the future of Samuel Rhodes.
She said: “[We will now] have equal recognition and hopefully equal publicity.”
This ‘outstanding’ review by Ofsted concludes that Samuel Rhodes achieved top marks in all four categories which are: ‘achievement of pupils’, ‘quality of teaching’, ‘behaviour and safety of pupils’ and ‘leadership and management’.
Councillor Richard Watts, executive member for children and families, has previously praised the school in an earlier statement issued by the Islington Counil on their webpage.
He said: “Well done to all the staff and governors at Samuel Rhodes who work incredibly hard to ensure their pupils are getting the best education and support to meet their needs.”
Julie Keylock added: “[The Council] are fully supportive of any changes that we want to make and are very, very proud that they now have three outstanding special schools in Islington.”The only two other special needs schools ranked as ‘outstanding’ in Islington are Richard Cloudesley School and The Bridge School.
Samuel Rhodes School now teaches 89 children with moderate learning difficulties between the ages of five to sixteen.
The Ofsted report of Samuel Rhodes School took place on the 5th and 6th December.