Portfield Primary School is improving

Since being placed into special measures last March, Portfield Primary School has received three monitoring inspections, in May and October last year and at the beginning of February this year.

To improve the school was required to:

Raise attainment and rate of progress in Key Stage 2 in English, maths and science;

Improve attendance;

Develop leadership throughout the school, and;

Improve the safeguarding procedures in line with government requirements.

It said last year some of the problems had been down to a high turnover of staff and inadequate teaching in the past.

But this week chairman of the school’s board of governors Geoff Hand said everyone was working hard so the school could make good progress.

“We are getting better each time,” he said.

“We are pleased with the help from the inspectors and the local authority. The whole school, including staff, pupils, parents and governors, are working hard.”

Mr Hand said attendance was improving, although it had not yet reached the national average but he was working with parents.

He said the leadership and management was now in a strong position.

“The results of pupils’ achievements are making good progress, but that’s not progress you can make happen overnight,” he added.

Mr Hand said the school was trying to get parents more involved with their children’s learning, which was key to making improvements.

A number of methods had been adopted including a successful Bring Your Mum to Maths day and the school’s website had also been revamped to help inform parents.

In his report, Ofsted inspector Stephen Long said the school’s capacity for improvement had grown well and the effective partnership between the acting and consultant headteachers had been strengthened by a new deputy headteacher and the impact of other senior leadership members.

Teaching was described as having improved further and that while variability remained, there were more examples of good and outstanding practice.

There was better assessment of pupils’ writing and mathematics, improvements assessments of pupils’ reading and an updated science curriculum. The report added pupils were enjoying their learning more.