Harrow Way Community School is on a mission. Having broken all previous GCSE records and celebrated a fantastic Ofsted last year, Headteacher Michael Serridge is determined to see the school achieve an ‘Outstanding’ when the inspectors next come to visit.

A series of initiatives have been introduced starting with a day with renowned, award winning trainer Andy Griffith. Andy’s ‘Outstanding Teaching’ as the day is called, has been described by the staff at Harrow Way as inspirational, with many now adopting the practices learned which will see the students become more independent, more engaged, more challenged and receive more meaningful feedback.

Headteacher Michael Serridge comments: “Last September Ofsted rated the school’s teaching as ‘good and improving with an increasing proportion of lessons that are outstanding.’ We know the teaching and learning delivered here has improved further following our best ever GCSE results but I would like this to be better still. We have a strategy which will see Harrow Way become an ‘Outstanding’ school, something all the staff and governors are wholly committed to achieving.”

Hence only the very best will do and with a host of prestigious awards, Andy Griffin is the ideal person for the school to work with. Andy has observed over 2,000 lessons and has been recognised in the prestigious TES School Awards for his range of innovative education training courses and in 2010 Osiris Educational (the biggest teacher training organisation in the UK) made Andy their trainer of the year.

Michael Serridge concludes: “Harrow Way is a very different school to the one it was two years ago. Internally we have modernised to give a contemporary feel and we have invested in our external environment too, such as the recent upgrade of the tennis courts. We are on a mission, working on and improving every aspect of the students’ experience here at the school, from the buildings, the grounds, to the teaching and learning.”