CHILDREN and staff are celebrating after their school was graded ‘good’ by Ofsted in a recent inspection.
Singleton CofE Primary School, in Charlton Road, Singleton, was given an overall score of ‘good’ with behaviour and safety of pupils marked ‘outstanding’ – the highest mark in an Ofsted inspection.
In her inspection report, Jane Chesterfield said: “This is a good school where pupils achieve well.
“It is not yet outstanding because achievement in writing is not as good as in mathematics and reading and because there is inconsistency in the quality of marking, target-setting and feedback to pupils.”
Several key points were picked out by Mrs Chesterfield in her report.
Giving pupil behaviour and safety an outstanding rating, she said: “Pupils’ behaviour is outstanding and relationships across the school are excellent.
“Pupils have an appetite for learning and are eager to be independent in their work.”
She described pupils as ‘natural, outgoing and friendly’, with older children supporting younger ones and ‘excellent attitudes’ to learning. The report said teaching was ‘consistently good’ across the school and ‘sometimes outstanding’ in the infant class.
Pupils make good progress from ‘below-average’ starting points, achievement in mathematics had been ‘consistently good’ for several years and the school’s Year of Reading brought about a ‘marked improvement’.
Mrs Chesterfield described teachers as ‘lively and enthusiastic’ but said marking was ‘inconsistent’.
To improve further, the school needed to build on the success of the Year of Reading by increasing opportunities for pupils to write at length and improving the structure and presentation of pupils written work. The report also suggested improving the ‘consistency in the quality of marking and target-setting’.
Following publication of the report, Malcolm Scott, chairman of governors, and head teacher Christopher Todd said: “We are delighted Ofsted was highly positive about so many aspects of our wonderful community.
“We have great pride in all our pupils, who are superb ambassadors for our school, and in our hard working and committed staff and governors.”