‘Head from hell’ school taken off Estyn improvement list

Twm Owen, local democracy reporter

A secondary school has been removed from a list of those needing “significant improvement” nearly two years after appointing the “head from hell”.

Education inspectors Estyn said Caldicot School required “significant improvement” following a 2024 inspection shortly after Alun Ebenezer had taken over as acting headteacher.

Estyn has now released a report based on its most recent monitoring visit, before the Easter holidays, and found Caldicot has made “sufficient progress” in relation to the recommendations from the inspection and it is “removing the school from the list of schools requiring significant improvement”.

Before Mr Ebenezer’s appointment the school had been hit by strike action by teachers, in autumn 2023, who said its then leadership had failed to act over verbal abuse, and physical violence, from pupils towards them and other children.

Mr Ebenezer immediately introduced a crackdown on uniform standards that included girls being sent home if skirts were deemed “too short”, leaving some in tears, and changes included Saturday morning detentions and calling the parents of children misbehaving in class into school.

The 2024 inspection report found moral among teachers and behaviour of pupils had improved.

The disciplinarian head said there has been no relaxing of his approach or in discipline since his appointment but said the school is now a “happier” environment.

He said: “It’s not a case young people are miserably coming to school. This strict approach has made them happier, they know when they come into school what the standards and expectations of discipline are but within that young people are happier, safer and flourishing and pastoral care all go together.”

In a letter to parents Mr Ebenezer compared the school to Narnia the mythical land in the novel The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe and said: “For years and years in Narnia it was ‘winter never Christmas’. Winter is over now.”

He also praised the support of staff, parents and pupils and the local authority and said: “I’m the least important person here.”

Though he was appointed as an acting head Mr Ebenezer said he is undecided on his future and said: “I’ve got to work out what is best for me and my family and the whole school.”

Recommendations

Estyn had made five recommendations. One related to a safeguarding concern which it said had been “fully addressed” while Monmouthshire County Council is dealing with a health and safety issue.

The other recommendations related to strengthening leadership, including the impact of evaluation and improvement processes, improving leadership of provision for pupils with additional learning needs, improving attendance and development of pupils’ skills and to address shortcomings in teaching, particularly with regard to supporting pupils with weaker skills.

The inspectors said teachers have been supported to plan how they support progression and work with pupils, while work on improving pupils’ skills is at an early stage. Improvements in reading, writing and numeracy were noted though inspectors also said in “a minority of instances, shortcomings in teaching result in pupils making more limited progress.”

Attendance

Overall attendance improved slightly in 2024-2025 compared with the previous year but the rate of improvement was below similar schools while attendance of pupils eligible for free school meals declined over the past three years. Unverified school data indicates improved attendance for this academic year, including of pupils eligible for free school meals, whie processes to monitor and address attendance are in place.

The school’s specialist resource base, for pupils with additional learning needs, has also been reorganised to meet the needs of those with more complex and physical needs, Changes include tracking progress but work on “more targeted interventions” was described as in its early stages.