Littlehampton special school wins inspectors' praise for rapid improvement

An Ofsted inspection at Cornfield School, Cornfield Close, last month found that the school was no longer failing its students, but instead giving them a "good" education.

The special school's chairman of governors, Peter Surtees, said he was delighted with the outcome of the latest inspection, particularly as the turnaround achieved by the staff had, in reality, taken only 11 months.

"The whole team have worked extremely hard to make a significant difference in such a short space of time".

Ofsted gave Cornfield, which caters for 11 to 16-year-olds with special needs, a glowing report.

It stated: "Overall, students make good progress and achieve well.

Good progress

"Students with additional learning difficulties and/or other disabilities make equally good progress because of effective strategies for identifying those students and then bolstering their numeracy and literacy skills through targeted support."

The special measures judgement came at a time when the school, which has 44 students, was operating with both the head teacher and an assistant head teacher on long-term sick leave.

The assistant head teacher left the school in July 2007, and the head teacher did not return to work, eventually leaving in September 2007.

Ric Turney, an experienced special school head teacher, was appointed as executive head teacher soon after, to support the school through a restructure, and to focus on addressing the issues identified by Ofsted.

He said that very few schools moved from "serious weaknesses" to "good" within such a short time, and praised the staff team for their commitment, enthusiasm and hard work during the past year.

"It has been a pleasure to work with such a dedicated and professional team," he added.

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