Head of failing school signs up as inspector

The headteacher of a Cambridge primary school which was found to be failing despite educating the children of university academics is to inspect other schools after stepping down from his post.

Martin Lown, who leaves Newnham Croft Primary at the end of this month after 10 years at the school, passed a training course run by the inspection agency Ofsted and will join teams inspecting primary schools next term.

Parents at Newnham Croft, who include a number of Cambridge University tutors and lecturers, were shocked when a highly critical Ofsted inspection report published in March found that the school was failing to provide its pupils with an acceptable standard of education.

Although pupils were often matching national expectations for their age group, their work in class was not reflecting their full capabilities, inspectors found. Although reception classes gave children a good start, the atmosphere in classrooms higher up the school did not enable pupils to learn properly.

In infant classes, no work at all was of a high standard, inspectors found. They wrote in their report: "Hardly any work is in line with the expected standard for their age, although pupils' talk indicated that they are articulate and quick on the uptake. Writing and number work is careless and meagre in quality."

Inspectors recommended that the school should improve curriculum planning to ensure all subjects were covered and set out clear goals for each lesson. Some parents had accused the school of refusing to listen to their complaints that their children were progressing too slowly.

As a team inspector, who joined the Ofsted register three years ago, Mr Lown has signed signed up with agencies who bid for contracts from Ofsted to inspect primary schools.

To be accepted as a team inspector, teachers or heads have to demonstrate that they have sufficient experience of their subject area or of management of schools, and must provide references. If considered suitably qualified, they must undergo five days of training spread out over up to eight weeks - a process described as rigorous by Ofsted.

Mr Lown said that Newnham Croft had been through a number of "crises and difficulties, most of which were beyond my control". He had told inspection agencies of the situation and all had told him they were happy to accept him, he said. Only the agency which had sent the team to his own school had declined to add his name to its books, "by mutual agreement".

Since the Newnham Croft inspection, the Chief Inspector of Schools, Chris Woodhead, has continued to stress Ofsted's focus on teaching quality and particularly on standards in numeracy and literacy.

However, Mr Woodhead acknowledged last week at a teachers' conference that the service needed to remedy some weaknesses among team inspectors. Some needed more training to ensure that they were qualified to inspect a variety of subjects, while others had been "inhumane" in denying teachers feedback after classroom observation.