SENIOR leaders at St Catherine’s Primary have taken an honest and open approach to tackling the school’s weaknesses an inspector has found.

Last year, Ofsted rated the Upper Stratton school as ‘requires improvement’ – ordering them to address multiple concerns.

Now, the education regulator has published a monitoring inspection in how staff are getting on.

The impromptu visit, back in November, was the first since the critical rating but on the whole, Ofsted inspector Steve Smith was impressed by the way the school had strived to achieve better.

In his report, inspector Steve Smith said: “Senior leaders take an open, honest approach to the school’s weaknesses. This means that they are able to meet challenges head-on in a purposeful and direct way. Leaders and governors are not shying away from the challenges at hand; they are focused on implementing lasting, sustainable improvements. Leadership is strengthening because leaders are now held to greater account by governors.

“Governors now have greater clarity of purpose and understand their roles better. They are using pupils’ progress information much more effectively than at the time of the previous inspection.

“The quality of teaching, learning and assessment is improving because of more robust leadership. Leaders were swift to introduce a new assessment system in response to findings from the previous inspection. They have also ensured that the information from teachers that populates the system is accurate. Consequently, the school’s assessment system is now fit for purpose.

“Pupils also enjoy their learning because they benefit from positive relationships with their teachers. Teachers and teaching assistants go to lengths to help pupils, particularly lower-ability pupils, who struggle with their learning or get stuck. Pupils told me that they feel well supported in this regard. One pupil said that teachers, ‘won’t give you the answer but they show you how to get to the answer’.”

In order to get a ‘good’ rating, the school needs to improve pupils’ writing skills, particularly in Year 2 and Year 6 and increase the number of pupils achieving greater depth in all their subjects, particularly in Year 4 and Year 6.

Mr Smith added: “Leaders acknowledge that there is more work to do to ensure that pupils’ achievement in writing improves, particularly in Years 2 and 6. Currently, it does not match their achievement in reading and mathematics.

“Leaders have plans in place to overcome these barriers and recognise that these issues are a priority for the school.”

Andrew Henstridge, executive headteacher at St Catherine’s Primary School, was approached for a comment before going to print.