Pupil power is improving Bognor school

Taking the views of children at the previously struggling Nyewood C of E Junior School into account has led to an education watchdog upgrading its status.

Ofsted's removal of the special measures tag occurred a term early, to the delight of everyone connected with the school.

Among the pupils who spoke to Ofsted's inspectors on their recent visit was Jaimie Ford.

The 11-year-old, who is one of the school's ambassadors, said: "The teachers do things now to make learning really fun.

"The teachers talk to us more. They don't just tell us what we are going to be doing," she said.

Jaimie is about to leave the school after four years at the Brent Road premises and said she envied those about to start there.

She said: "I think about how lucky everybody will be because the school has got better and it has really improved from what it was.

"They are not going to go through what we had to go through to get to be this good."

Consultant headteacher Sandra Jones said: "The children enjoy coming to school now. They can talk about their learning and talk about how they learn and they are really proud to be at the school.

"We have involved the children at every stage as we have gone along. We have asked them their opinions to make the school better and have responded to that."

The talks have led to a new curriculum being introduced

with more interaction from the pupils and allowing them to set their own targets and assess how they need to improve.

Nyewood C of E Junior School was deemed a failing school by Ofsted in October 2008. Its rapid progress since last summer, when Mrs Jones was brought in specially, was recognised by Ofsted lead inspector Mike Burghart during a recent visit.

The team of four inspectors spent two days among the 266 children and 30-plus staff. They commended Mrs Jones for her outstanding leadership and management.

But she said: "We could only have achieved this with everyone working together for the good of the children. There is still much to do at Nyewood as there would be in any aspiring school but also much to celebrate."

Mrs Jones said she was confident the school would go from strength to strength in an atmosphere of courtesy and consideration to reflect its Christian ideals.

The buildings are being refurbished and a permanent head, Jon Williams, will take over in September.

On the up...

Watch Nyewood C of E Junior School go, was the verdict of Mr Burghart and his fellow inspectors.

They assessed the school as satisfactory and said they were confident further improvements would occur.

"Considerable improvement has been made in improving provision, especially leadership and management and the quality of teaching, since the school was inspected in October 2008,"

Mr Burghart wrote.

"The school's reputation is growing fast. Parents and carers are very positive about the way the school is now run. 'Fantastic, 100 per cent better!' is a typical view and this is echoed by staff.

"The school is on the right track. The blue touchpaper has been lit.

"A central factor in recent success has been the introduction of a meaningful system to assess pupils' attainment and to gauge and track their progress."

Mr Burghart rated all aspects of the school's activities as either good or satisfactory, but he said more work needed to be done to raise attainment in English, improve the effectiveness of middle managers, improve the overall quality of teaching and raise computing skills.

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