Celebrations as school told it is a great place to learn
Ofsted upgrades rating to good after call for improvement
PUPILS are celebrating after their junior school was awarded a ‘good’ rating after government inspectors found it to be ‘a great place to learn’.
Wallisdean Junior School in Fareham has been rated ‘good’ in its most recent Ofsted inspection, which was conducted in October — a jump from the ‘requires improvement’ grade given in its previous report.
While the school’s 2017 inspection found that Wallisdean had ‘been through a turbulent time’, meaning that outcomes for Year 6 pupils had ‘dipped sharply’, inspectors found that in 2021 ‘pupils work hard’ and school leaders ‘are ambitious for all pupils’.
While the report warned that subject leaders sometimes focused more on checking ‘how well their plans are taught’, rather than on making sure that pupils are learning, Ofsted said that since the previous inspection, teachers have ‘expected much more from pupils and they have not been disappointed’.
Children on the school council were ‘excited’ to hear the news about their school’s new ‘good’ rating, as they had met with inspectors while they compiled their report.
Students from Year 6 were pleased that their conversations about their experiences in geography had a very positive impact on the outcome of the report.
The children also felt that there were lots of conversations about all areas of school life and some questions about bullying at the school.
School councillors were surprised by these questions, as they said: ‘Bullying is not tolerated at our school.’
Year 6 pupils were also asked by the inspectors to rate the school out of 10.
The children gave the school a rating of eight, and said: ‘The teachers are amazing and work hard for us.’
One councillor from Year 6 was asked by the inspectors about how children at Wallisdean feel about being different from each other, and said: ‘We are all different and that’s okay.’
Year 5 councillors were also asked to rate the school, and rated it as a nine because: ‘Teachers are supportive and encourage us to use resources and our working partners to support our learning.’
School councillors in Years 3 and 4 said: ‘Every topic is exciting with excellent resources and we are able to earn rewards by gaining house points.’
They also like that they have lots of opportunities to work in smaller groups in areas outside the classroom.