Action plan in place to help primary school improve

Inspector Deborah Gordon and her team spent two days at the school, in Rustington, and rated it ‘requires improvement’ in four of the five key areas.

The school’s early years provision was rated ‘good’.

In her report, published on June 5, Ms Gordon recognised the changes and progress made since the appointment of Amie Bowers as head.

She said: “Since her arrival in January 2018, the new headteacher has set about driving improvement with energy, focus and determination.

“Staff, parents and carers have already seen positive changes. Morale is high and there is optimism for the future.”

Looking at areas needing improvement, Ms Gordon found many pupils were not consistently challenged by the work set for them or the questions asked by teachers.

As a result, many – particularly the most able – did not progress as well as they should.

While progress was seen to be improving, the low starting points of some year groups meant they still had “some way to go” to meet the expected standards in English and maths.

In addition, the expectations of spelling were described as not high enough.

When it came to the early years, children were seen to make a good start and strong progress, leaving them well prepared for Year 1.

Miss Bowers said: “I have explained in a letter to parents that the governors and senior leaders feel that this was a fair reflection of the school at the current time.

“However, things are changing very quickly.

“When I applied for the position of headteacher, I was fully aware of the challenges that would lie ahead.

“This is one of the most caring schools I have worked in and I know that we have the capacity to make the changes that we need to make very rapidly.

“As stated in the report ‘morale is high and there is optimism for the future’.”

Chairman of governors, Rosemary Cornish, added: “We are proud of our inclusive, caring school but recognise we have work to do to improve standards.

“A comprehensive action plan is in place and we are confident the improvement that has already started will continue with vigour.”

To read the report, log on to the Ofsted website.