Ferring Primary School ‘taking effective action to provide education in the current circumstances’

Ferring CE Primary School is celebrating following a positive Ofsted report.
Watch more of our videos on Shots! 
and live on Freeview channel 276
Visit Shots! now

The school in Sea Lane was inspected by education bosses last month after two consecutive ratings of ‘requires improvement’.

And taking into account the impact of Covid-19 – they found leaders and those responsible for governance at the school were ‘taking effective action to provide education in the current circumstances’.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

The report added: “Leaders were well prepared to provide remote education at the start of the current lockdown. They had made significant improvements to remote education since March 2020. The school is prioritising the teaching of English and mathematics.”

Year-four pupils at Ferring CE Primary School in class and at home learning apart but togetherYear-four pupils at Ferring CE Primary School in class and at home learning apart but together
Year-four pupils at Ferring CE Primary School in class and at home learning apart but together

Terry Ryan, acting headteacher, told the Herald he and staff were ‘incredibly pleased’ with the outcome.

“All of our staff worked diligently to become proficient in providing education to all of our children, both in school and at home,” he added.

Mr Ryan thanked Luc Virgoe, remote learning lead at the school, who, he said, worked closely with staff to develop the school’s remote learning policy and practice, researching the Government’s recommended use of Google Classroom and developing his own knowledge and use of it, which was distributed to staff.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

The school was then in a position to be able to offer learning opportunities for children, which Ofsted considered to be effective, he added.

Mr Ryan also thanked all teachers and teaching assistants for becoming skilled in delivering high quality education during a difficult period and ‘working as such a supportive team’.

“This is a great accolade to their efforts,” he added.

“We are also very aware of how difficult this was for our families that were at home and we feel the children and their parents did an amazing job. We are very proud of their efforts to make such a challenging time work as well as it could.”

The Ofsted report said the school’s provision of laptops has helped pupils at home to access learning, and that the staff’s regular contact with families meant support could be given quickly where needed.

Hide Ad
Hide Ad

It added: “Leaders monitor pupils’ engagement with remote education carefully. They are pleased that vulnerable pupils are getting on well with the work set by their teachers. Teaching assistants continue to provide help for individual pupils, both in school and for those learning remotely.”

And the school continues to give reading a high priority, the report said. Daily phonics sessions are being provided for pupils in school and at home.

The report goes on: “The school is promoting enjoyment of reading well. For example, teachers provide live daily story times for pupils in school and at home. They provide books for pupils to read and give parents advice about suitable books that pupils can read online.”

Although schools were closed for most pupils this term, Ofsted continued to carry out inspections remotely with the focus being on how schools were providing education to all the children during the latest lockdown.

Around 43 per cent of pupils were being educated at Ferring Primary School at the time of the inspection.

Related topics: