The headteacher of an independent alternative provision school has said she is pleased with the results from a recent Ofsted monitoring inspection.

Open Box Education Centre in St John’s Road, Epping, has been deemed to have met all the required standards, following their status graded as ‘Requires Improvement’ in May 2018.

The education centre opened in September 2017 where they provide referred Year 10 and 11 pupils who may suffered trauma or permanent exclusion a chance to complete their GCSE’s.

Speaking about the latest monitoring report, Principal Alison Dolan, said: ““We are very pleased, it is a combination of a year of hard work and is recognition of the education we are providing to young people, so is a really positive outcome.”

Following their first ever Ofsted report, inspectors reported that teachers needed to provide better feedback on student’s work and improve monitoring their student’s progress.

The report published earlier this month, stated: “The school’s marking and assessment policy has been overhauled and gives teachers greater freedom to decide how each pupil will receive feedback on the progress they are making. This means that individual pupils receive more bespoke written or verbal feedback.

“Discussions with pupils showed that they appreciate this new approach, and they now respond more positively to their teachers’ comments.

“Leaders have taken appropriate action to address these shortfalls, and teachers now have sufficient information about each pupil to ensure that their needs are better met than previously. Assessments of progress are more accurate, and targets set for pupils are more appropriate and are checked at regular intervals.

“Effective action has been taken to ensure that the independent school standard for the leadership and management of the school is now met.”

Although the school has been judged to have achieved their requirements, they will retain their current Ofsted grade until their follow-up inspection takes places in 2020.

“Hopefully the rating will go up to ‘Good’ on the recognition of what we have achieved next year,” added Ms Dolan. “We have put an awful lot of work around assessment and monitoring.

“I think the main achievement is that we are the only school within the immediate area who offer a small, nurturing and bespoke education for students who have experienced trauma and rejection.

““We have just had our year 11’s go through their GCSE’s, obviously we have to wait till results day but we are really proud of our students with the way they have approached their exams and revision.”