Inspector's praise for Port's school
9:00am Tuesday 5th March 2013 in News
Inspector's praise for Port's school
The quality of education provided for pupils at Porthleven School has been praised in a positive report from Ofsted inspectors.
This highlights the improvements made since the last inspection and ends by saying that the school has the ability to improve even further.
Ofsted inspectors wrote: “This is a good school. Teaching is now firmly good. Some is outstanding. As a result pupils’ progress has improved and is now equally good for pupils from all backgrounds and for each year group.”
Delighted headteacher Duncan Ratcliffe said: “The publication of the report is an affirmation of all the hard work that the staff have put into school improvement since the last inspection.
“I am thrilled with the report and for everyone connected to the school. It comes as a result of the passion and commitment of teachers, teaching assistants, administrative staff, midday supervisors, cleaners and caretakers and not least the parents and pupils of Porthleven.”
The report praises the school’s “broad and stimulating” curriculum and the quality of teaching and learning.
“Teachers have high expectations and plan activities based on pupils’ prior learning. Additional adults give very good guidance and support to children who need it,” inspectors said, adding that pupil performance had “steadily improved” and was now in line with national averages.
The inspectors also praise the organisation and administration of the school, saying: “A strong ethos of continuous school improvement is shared by all staff and is led determinedly by the headteacher. The governing body is a committed and cohesive team, successfully holding senior leaders to account for the school’s performance.”
Pupils are described as well behaved, polite and happy in school, and are generally keen to learn in lessons. There were two areas of action for governors and staff: to improve teaching so that more is outstanding and accelerate the rate at which pupils learn phonics, by ensuring that teaching is geared to the variety of pupils’ needs found in some classes.
Chairman of governors Sarah Williams said: “Our school has come a long way since our last Ofsted inspection in February 2011.”
At this time the school was judged to be just “satisfactory” overall, third in the four inspection grades that range from one being “outstanding” and four being “inadequate.”
Ms Williams added: “Everybody who works with us at the school has worked tirelessly to create the greatly improved school seen by Ofsted during their recent visit.”
Information on schools in this area can be found online at thepacket.co.uk
