We’re very pleased with Ofsted report, says headteacher (From Worcester News)

We’re very pleased with Ofsted report, says headteacher

5:20pm Monday 7th January 2013 in News By Sarah Davies

STAFF and pupils at a Worcester school are celebrating following a successful Ofsted report.

Cranham Primary School in Tetbury Drive, Warndon, is now deemed to be a good school overall by inspectors during their latest assessment – an improvement on its previous grading of satisfactory.

The school’s leadership team was praised for successfully improving teaching and learning since the previous inspection, ensuring pupils achieve well.

All teachers were regarded as skilled at marking children’s work and helping them to build upon what they already know when youngsters are learning new skills.

Inspectors said pupils responded well, were eager to learn and behaved well, and also felt very safe and secure.

It was also deemed that staff worked well together as a team and were relentless in their drive for improvement.

School leaders were said to frequently question what they do and make sure everyone was well trained so they were effective in doing their jobs.

To improve, the school needs to ensure more teaching is outstanding and leaders should return sooner to check on improvements they have set staff.

Inspectors said teachers should also give pupils in Key Stage 1 frequent opportunities to learn how to use and spell correctly the words they regularly encounter in order to use them accurately in their writing.

Headteacher Gareth Morgan said pupils and staff were delighted by the outcome.

He said: “We were very pleased with the report. It’s a reflection of the hard work we have put in.

“It’s incredibly positive. I think the new framework [for assessment] is so rigid and rigorous that to get a good is an awful lot of improvement.”

ABOUT CRANHAM PRIMARY SCHOOL Cranham is larger than most other primary schools. The proportion of pupils supported through school action is above average.

A well-above average proportion of pupils is supported through school action plus or has a statement of special educational needs.

Most of these pupils have speech, language and communication difficulties.

A well-above average proportion of pupils is known to be eligible for the pupil premium and the school runs ‘nurture’ provision for pupils with particular behavioural difficulties, and a breakfast club.

Report findings: What the school does well l The school’s leadership team has successfully improved teaching and learning since the previous inspection. Pupils now achieve well.

l Teaching and learning are good. All teachers are skilled at marking pupils’ work and helping them to build upon what they already know when they are learning new skills.

l The school makes clear to pupils that they are to be successful learners. They respond well, are eager to learn and behave well l Pupils feel very safe and secure. They know they are well looked after and are encouraged to treat everyone in school with respect.

l The whole staff works well together, as a team. They are relentless in their drive for improvement. Leaders frequently question what they do and make sure everyone is well trained so they are highly effective in doing their jobs.

What it can do better l Not enough of the teaching is outstanding.

l When senior leaders and coordinators give the staff points to improve their teaching, leaders do not always return soon enough to check on whether the improvements have been made, especially that work set fully matches pupils’ abilities.

l Teachers in Key Stage 1 do not always make sure that the pupils use accurately the high frequency words they learn and use repeatedly in all aspects of their writing.