A report which praised the good progress made at a village primary school has been hailed by its headteacher.
Ten Mile Bank Primary School has been rated as good in an Ofsted inspection report published last Wednesday.
And headteacher John Ward described the report as “fantastic”, particularly as it showed the school was continuing to improve under the new framework for inspections by the watchdog.
He added: “I’m absolutely thrilled. I’ve been here eight years and I’ve been working towards this day when everybody here gets the recognition they deserve for the work they have done.”
The school had been rated as satisfactory when it was last assessed by Ofsted in 2009.
And lead inspector James McAtear said: “This is a good and improving school.”
The report followed an inspection carried out at the end of January. Inspectors found that pupils, who tended to have below average skill levels when they joined the school, made good progress and achieved broadly average standards in reading and maths by the time they leave.
Teachers were also praised for the standards of teaching, which was said to be “at least good and sometimes outstanding”, and planning to meet pupils’ individual needs.
However, in order to become an outstanding school, Mr McAtear said more needed to be done to make sure that best practices were shared, including in the teaching of writing, and were commonly used in all lessons.
He also called for more opportunities for children to practice their writing, plus improvements to the outdoor learning environment, particularly for younger pupils.
He added: “Resources in the outdoor area for children in the Reception year are not exciting enough to provide them with high quality learning opportunities.”
Mr Ward said the school was aware of the issue with the learning area and had already put plans in place to improve and expand the facility.
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