Lyminster Primary School staff and students celebrate Ofsted report

Inspectors visited the school in Wick Street, Littlehampton, on September 11 and 12. The school was upgraded to ‘good’, having been rated as ‘requires improvement’ in May 2017.

Headteacher Steve McGinley said: “We are thrilled that Ofsted has concluded that we are now a ‘good’ school, and recognized our strengths in the relationships between teachers and pupils, the pupils’ engagement with their learning, sports & extra-curricular, and inclusivity.

“The school has been on quite a journey over the past few years as we worked hard to make the improvements necessary to reverse historic underachievement.

“While the journey is never finished, and we are determined to continue working hard and improving further, it is a fantastic moment for the whole community to have all that hard work publicly recognized.”

According to the report, the school has 213 pupils, of which the proportion from a disadvantaged background is below the national average.

Inspectors Lucy English and Clementina Aina said: “Leaders have made sure that the core curriculum is strong. The foundation curriculum is not of the same quality.”

They said ‘leaders need to continue to improve the planning of these subjects’ and make sure ‘staff subject knowledge is as secure for these subjects as it is for the core curriculum’.

They added that ‘leaders and governors have built strong community links, but the partnership with parents is not as strong as it needs to be’. They said: “A small group of parents think that behaviour and bullying are issues. We did not find this to be the case.”

Mr McGinley thanked everyone involved for their ‘effort, dedication and community spirit’, adding: “Our aim for the future is to deliver no less than a world-class education for every pupil, no matter what their starting point, and we’ll be working closely with parents and the community to ensure our partnerships are as strong as they can be.”

He said they would improve their arts and humanities curriculum by working with national organizations such as Artsworks and the British Council.