THE determined headteacher of a Southend secondary school has vowed to bring it up to a “good” standard after overseeing major improvements since it was rated “inadequate” by Ofsted. 

Southchurch High School, in Southchurch Boulevard, was lifted out of special measures in December, when Ofsted rated it as “requires improvement” and is now facing a 15-month race against time to earn a higher rating. 

Tracey Airoll, who took over as headteacher after the school’s “inadequate” rating in March last year, admits “there’s still a lot of work to do” but insists the school is making huge strides forward. 

She said: “We are very honest and realise there are improvements to be made, and we’re working really hard to do that. We’ve got an amazing cohort of students and really supportive parents.

“Ofsted was absolutely right to put us into special measures, because the school wasn’t good enough. While Ofsted was rightly pleased with our improvement, ‘requires Improvement’ is still not good enough for us.”

Following the last inspection in November, Ofsted highlighted three areas that required improvement - the curriculum, children’s behaving and persistent absences. 

To help improve the quality of teaching, the Specialist Schools and Academies Trust will train teachers working at the school from Easter and help them to develop a new curriculum.

Mrs Airoll added: “We will link with ‘good’ and ‘outstanding’ schools so we can learn from the best.

“Some students with consistently poor behaviour are more to do with teachers’ inconsistent approaches, so we’re also doing lots of work on that.”

The school is set to welcome a raft of trainee teachers in September.

Mrs Airoll said: “Taking us out of special measures means we can access an extra pool of Early Careers Teachers, at the early stages of coming into the profession.

“They’ll bring enthusiasm and new ideas. I may be 58, but I’m an old dog who can learn new tricks.”

Mrs Airoll hopes the new starters will help the school “make a difference” to young people’s lives.

She said: “Some of our families live in areas of social deprivation, so good teaching can change their children’s life chances.”

Mrs Airoll admits it is an ambitious target to turn the school around in 15 months but is “very confident” it will be achieved.

In June 2022, a damning Ofsted report found bullying and prejudice were rife among pupils.
Monitoring inspections held last summer noted there had been improvements, but inspectors said the school would remain “inadequate” and continue to be in special measures.

It was finally brought out of special measures at the last inspection, but the race is on to be upgraded. Improving attendance is a key focus for the committed headteacher.

Mrs Airoll added: “We’ve got to show we’re a good school and demonstrate the outcomes of all these measures we’ve put in place. Teaching and learning are getting better, and so will our attendance.

“If we can ensure we offer high-quality lessons – which are admittedly not as good as they could be, which is why they require improvement – the small amount of non-attending students will want to come to school as they won’t want to miss out.”