Bicton C of E Primary School vows to improve following Ofsted report

Staff and governors at Bicton C of E Primary School and Nursery say they are determined to rapidly improve after Ofsted inspectors rated the school as ‘requires improvement’ following an inspection in December 2017.

At their previous inspection in January 2013 the school was rated as ‘good’.

Now the school says that they want to become ‘good’ 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 on Tuesday 16 January 2018 – inspectors ruled that ‘personal development, behaviour and welfare’, and ‘early years provision’ are both ‘good’.

However, they found that the ‘effectiveness of leadership and management’, ‘quality of teaching, learning and assessment’, and ‘outcomes for pupils’ were all ‘requires improvement’. They rated the school as ‘requires improvement’ overall.

Although inspectors raised a number of concerns, their report does highlight a number of strengths.

They found that pupils speak very highly of their school and the staff, and that attendance rates are high and behaviour excellent. They say that pupils enjoy learning about a range of different subjects, that early years provision is very effective, and the children get a “great start to school life”.

Inspectors also found that pupils’ personal development is very well supported, that children feel safe in school, and have many opportunities to develop their spiritual, moral, social and cultural learning.

Natalie Johnson, headteacher at Bicton CofE CE Primary School and Nursery, said:

“We are pleased that the inspectors recognised the many strengths of our school and have acknowledged the considerable changes that have taken place since the last inspection. Staff and governors are fully committed to moving the school forward to ensure that we quickly return to being judged a ‘good’ school at our next inspection.”

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 5 and 6 December 2017. Inspectors observed lessons, held discussions with the headteacher, pupils, governors and parents. They also looked at a range of pupils’ books and considered the responses to a staff questionnaire, parent questionnaire and a pupil questionnaire.