St Giles C of E Primary School in Shrewsbury has vowed to rapidly improve following an Ofsted report that rated it as ‘requires improvement’.
The staff and governors at St Giles C of E Primary School say they are determined to rapidly improve after Ofsted inspectors rated the school as ‘requires improvement’ following an inspection at the start of this month.
This was a marked downgrade from their previous inspection in October 2008, over 10 years ago, when the school was rated as ‘outstanding’.
The school says that they want to become ‘outstanding’ again as soon as possible, and have already begun work to address the areas for improvement identified by Ofsted inspectors.
In the Ofsted report – published today – inspectors ruled that ‘personal development’ and ‘behaviour and attitudes’ are both ‘good’.
However they found that the ‘quality of teaching’, ‘leadership and management’, and ‘early years provision’ all ‘requires improvement’. They rated the school as ‘requires improvement’ overall.
The report stated that reading is not prioritised in the early years and that teachers had not received the training they need to teach phonics well enough. It also found the books pupils took home with them are too difficult. Insufficient time was being given to subjects and pupils were not taught the full range of topics included in the national curriculum.
But the report did find that pupils are happy, like learning, behave well, feel safe in school and know where to go for help. The report also found that arrangements for safeguarding are ‘effective’ and there is a lot of support in place for children who need it.
Ofsted Inspection Concluded
Overall effectiveness: Requires improvement
The quality of education: Requires improvement
Behaviour and attitudes: Good
Personal development: Good
Leadership and management: Requires improvement
Early years provision: Requires improvement
Inspection dates: 1–2 October 2019
Actions started to address issues
Caroline Gardner, headteacher at St Giles C of E Primary School, said:
“We are really pleased that Ofsted recognised our focus on social and emotional well- being for our pupils and the positive impact this has. Our priorities in recent years have been linked to improving outcomes for all pupils in reading, writing and maths and all statutory data at the end of 2018-19 was in line with or above national and local outcomes.
“Whilst we are disappointed with the outcome of the inspection, we were already aware of the improvements needed to meet the increased expectations of the new Inspection Framework which was introduced in September. School improvement plans were already in place last year and actions started to address some of these issues.
“As a school community, we understand the need to make changes and look forward to the opportunities this will bring for us all – staff, governors, parents and children.”
Shropshire Council response
Karen Bradshaw, director of children’s services with Shropshire Council, said:
“Shropshire Council wants our children to receive the best possible education. We’re pleased that the headteacher, staff and governors have already begun work to address the priorities for improvements in the Ofsted report and we will continue to support the school to ensure that pupils have consistently good opportunities to learn and to fulfil their potential.”
The two-day inspection took place on 1 and 2 October 2019. Inspectors observed lessons, held discussions with the headteacher, deputy headteacher, teaching staff, and pupils, and reviewed a range of documentation. Inspectors focused on reading, writing, maths and history and scrutinised pupils’ work.
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