Ofsted celebrations for St John's Primary School

A Beverley primary school is celebrating after soaring up the Ofsted ratings to be judged a good school.

St John of Beverley RC Primary School, which was previously rated as ‘satisfactory’, is now judged by Ofsted to be ‘good’ at every level, including achievement of pupils, quality of teaching, and overall effectiveness..

Inspectors praised the ‘inspirational’ headteacher, Mrs Angela Nicholl, saying she has improved teaching and raised achievement at an impressive rate since becoming head in January 2013.

Their report says pupils’ achievement is good in all year groups and that the quality of teaching is consistently good, with some outstanding. The behaviour of pupils is good and improving, and the morale is high among staff.

The governing body is said to challenge and support the school to a high level, and leaders, managers and governors make sure that the quality of teaching and pupils’ achievement is continuing to strengthen.

The inspectors say that pupils enter the Reception year with skills and abilities that are appropriate for their age in most areas, but are below expectations in communication and literacy. By the time they leave in Year 6, standards in all subjects are above average, and the pace of improvement is accelerating with pupils who are currently in school.

The inspectors say that to improve still further the school should raise achievement and improve teaching so that they both become outstanding.

It should also ensure that leaders at all levels set challenging targets for all pupils in Key Stage 2 so that more pupils make outstanding progress relative to their different starting points.

Mrs Nicholl said: “All of the members of our school family are very happy with the report. I feel that it recognises the hard work being done to ensure that pupils receive good education and quality pastoral care.

“The two areas in particular that I was delighted with were firstly, that the inspectors noted that ‘the quality of teaching across the school is at least good in all year groups. In some, it is outstanding’, reflecting how hard our staff work to ensure that achievement is high

“Secondly, the recognition of how hard our pupils work to make our school a good place to be. Through their good behaviour, eagerness to help each other and good manners they uphold and promote the long standing values of a school family which has our faith at the heart of everything we do.

“We look forward to continuing to work with parents, partner schools and the local authority to build upon the good work being done in school.”

Councillor Julie Abraham, East Riding of Yorkshire Council portfolio holder for children, young people and education, said: “This is a super report that demonstrates the progress made by the school since Mrs Nicholl was appointed 12 months prior to the inspection.

“This is a school that knows where it is going and everyone at St John's should be very proud of this recognition.”