Ofsted has praised a Patchway primary school in need of improvement for “taking effective action to provide education” amid the Covid-19 crisis.
Stoke Lodge Primary School, on School Close, received two successive judgments of Requires Improvement from the education watchdog, first in 2016 and again in 2019.
Concerns were raised about pupils’ progress in maths and English, and these persisted at the second full inspection.
Now an inspector has issued an encouraging report after a visit in March to check on progress addressing the issues, which were partly blamed on “staff turbulence”.
In a letter to the school on April 20, Heather Barraclough wrote: “Having considered all the evidence and taking into account the impact of Covid-19 (coronavirus) on the school, I am of the opinion that at this time:
“Leaders and those responsible for governance are taking effective action to provide education in the current circumstances.
“Leaders and those responsible for governance should take further action to: increase subject leaders’ confidence in evaluating their subject areas so they can take greater responsibility for the quality of the curriculum.”
Addressing headteacher Will Ferris, who joined the school in September 2019, Ms Barraclough said: “You have worked effectively alongside the trust to raise expectations and aspirations of both pupils and staff.
“At the same time, you have ensured that leadership at all levels continues to develop within a culture that encourages everyone to improve.
“Nevertheless, you rightly recognise that some aspects of subject leaders’ work need strengthening, such as their ability to evaluate their subject areas and use this to develop these areas further.”
Ms Barraclough noted that the inspection was carried out remotely, owing to the coronavirus pandemic, so the findings were less reliable than those from usual monitoring visits.
