HEADTEACHERS across Swindon are outraged by the letter from Ofsted regional director Bradley Simmons, with many calling the findings unfair, unbalanced and inaccurate.

Attainment levels for both primary and secondary schools were included in the send-out to all headteachers with Mr Simmons making direct reference to the performance of many of Swindon’s academies including Kingsdown School.

The Hyde Road school was rated as requiring improvement back in April but has since had a monitoring inspecting by Her Majesty’s Inspector who noted that improvements were being made.

Headteacher Wendy Conaghan said she was disappointed to read the letter which was sent out on Friday afternoon.

“We had a monitoring visit recently where we had a really positive feedback because HMU recognised how much we had improved,” she added.

“Although we are due another inspection for another year, we are well on our way to becoming good and seeing our name in the letter well, I wasn’t pleased about it because we are an improving school.

“I think in the letter, it has named every secondary school in Swindon that is not rated good by Ofsted.

“To say that Swindon’s children were failed by their schools is quite the statement but it is an unbalanced one. I think he’s trying to get across a message.”

Wendy, who has been a headteacher for over 10 years, said while the performance of schools varies, there are underlying issues which affect all.

“Funding is definitely an issue and we are being asked to do more with less and I am in a position where I have never been before in my life as a headteacher,” she said.

“I am having to look very carefully because there is not enough money there to go around and that has never happened before.

“I am convinced the MPs will already be fighting for more funding but the government will be saying there isn’t enough money there.

“The letter won’t change how we run our school because if I do change things, I means I wasn’t doing the right thing in the first place and so it won’t impact me or my school because we are already improving.”

And the feelings were similar for primary school teachers who faced a seething criticism over their SATs results in the letter.

Sally Clarke, headteacher at Nythe primary, said such statistics shouldn’t have been included due to the fact of the new assessment criteria which recently came into effect.

She added: “The letter sent by Ofsted doesn’t reflect the excellent practice and results at the school because our pupils are achieving above average.

“It is extremely generalised and it paints a picture for the whole of Swindon.

“I would attribute a lot of the rapid improvements to the excellent support from other Swindon head teachers for me and my school. We work together to give children the best provision of education and I share that commitment with them.

“It is a concern that he has included the primary school results as it is the first year of the new assessment criteria.

"We had little time to prepare for the SATs tests and there was little published about what the expected standard had to be. The letter is very short-sighted and has a narrow view of Swindon’s school.

“I think it is an inaccurate reflection of a high number of Swindon’s schools.”