Headteacher says Whaley Bridge Primary School is ‘nearly there’ after Ofsted visit

Fay Walton told how a senior inspector described the school as ‘happy and caring’ while summing up its progress since being rated as requiring improvement in 2018.

David Carter - Her Majesty’s Senior Inspector - also applauded the school’s collaborative leadership style.

The encouraging report comes after Whaley Bridge Primary School was rated as requiring improvement during its last three inspections.

However the January monitoring visit found senior leaders and governors were taking effective action to tackle the areas requiring improvement.

Delighted headteacher Fay said: “We’re nearly there - we’re all working so hard.

“The team we have here are absolutely brilliant - the staff work so hard and the children are brilliant.

“They’re a pleasure to work with.

“The leadership and management of the school is a lot more robust now - we’re more collaborative and strategic than before.”

In his comments Mr Carter wrote how the school had a ‘strong inclusive nature’ and a ‘clear moral purpose’ while pupils were treated as individuals.

Mr Carter commended the school for thinking carefully about curriculum delivery and what worked best for the children.

He noted that the curriculum developed the ‘whole child’ and made them well-rounded individuals.

The inspector’s report read how the school’s improvement plan was effective in tackling weaknesses and set out clear actions to improve outcomes for all children.

He also praised subject leaders’ development and their ability to monitor and evaluate the quality of education.

Mr Carter said there was ‘a love of maths’ across the school - and observed strong skills being used in calculations and place value during lesson observations.

The report identified three areas for improvement:

Ensuring that the new curriculum is implemented effectively - meaning teachers plan sequences in all subjects that build on pupils’ previous learning Making sure checks on what pupils learn and recall are used to inform the next steps in their learning Working so that that the curriculum enables more pupils to attain the higher level in mathematics