Ofsted praise for improving primary school

Ofsted has praised a headteacher and her team for their efforts to improve their school.
Northgate Primary School (Pic by Jon Rigby) SUS-150911-161205008Northgate Primary School (Pic by Jon Rigby) SUS-150911-161205008
Northgate Primary School (Pic by Jon Rigby) SUS-150911-161205008

Northgate Primary had been rated ‘requires improvement’ following an inspection last November and, one year on, inspector Theresa Phillips found a lot of work had gone into doing just that.

Her report following the monitoring visit, which was published on Monday (November 14) said of headteacher Georgina Beaven: “You continue to provide strong leadership of the school. You have a clear vision for the high standards expected at the school and have shown determination in pursuit of improvement.”

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Ms Phillips said the appointment of new deputy headteachers and the reforming of the governing body had played its part in the progress made by Northgate.

She added: “Leaders and governors now have a deeper and more accurate understanding of the strengths and remaining weaknesses of the school.”

The atmosphere in the classrooms during her visit was described as “purposeful”, with pupils “appropriately engaged in a range of learning activities”.

Improvements in the youngsters’ reading and writing levels were highlighted for praise by Ms Phillips.

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She said expectations had been raised and pupils were now heard reading more challenging material every week, while receiving guidance about their spelling and handwriting.

She told Mrs Beaven: “You and your team are rightly proud of the improvements at the school and are clear about the next steps needed to maintain this trajectory.

“The school improvement plan is well organised and linked closely to the areas for improvement from the last inspection.”

Mrs Beaven said: “Over the last 12 months we have been working extremely hard to address the areas identified as requiring improvement in our previous inspection report.

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“We were very pleased that our efforts were recognised as both appropriate and effective.

“There is still much to be done and it will remain a challenge to regain our ‘good’ grading after only one more year as the inspection process continues to be data driven and it takes time for improvements to affect results.

“Staff and governors are absolutely committed to improving the school as rapidly as possible and parents are feeding back to us that they can see the positive changes we are making.”

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