Widnes primary school ordered to improve in Ofsted report
A WIDNES school has been told to improve in several areas by an education watchdog.
Ofsted has inspected Spinney Avenue Church Of England Voluntary Controlled Primary School in Hough Green.
It was last viewed by inspectors in 2013 who deemed the school ‘good’ on that occasion.
But a fresh inspection undertaken this year and recently published by the organisation said the school on Spinney Avenue ‘requires improvement’ in several areas.
This includes the outcomes for pupils, the quality of teaching, learning and assessment, the effectiveness of the school’s leadership and management, as well as its early years provision.
The personal development, behaviour and welfare of pupils has been rated ‘good’ by the watchdog, but inspectors have overall deemed the school ‘requires improvement’.
The inspection report said many staff changes in recent years have slowed the pace of school improvement – with 16 new appointments made since the last visit in March 2013 – and that some pupils do not always present their work to the best of their ability.
It said: “Leaders and governors have not ensured that teaching is good in the early years and in Key Stages 1 and 2.
“Information from assessing pupils’ skills and knowledge is not used effectively by some teachers to pitch activities at the right level for most-able pupils.
“Leaders’ actions have yet to impact on pupils’ outcomes.
“Work to develop and deepen pupils’ knowledge and understanding across different subjects is at an early stage of development.
“Writing skills across the curriculum also remain underdeveloped.
“Reading is not given sufficient emphasis. Leaders are yet to ensure that pupils read widely and for a variety of purposes.
“Teaching has not been good enough to help pupils make good progress.
“There is evidence of good teaching and learning that is accelerating the progress of some pupils, but this is not consistent in all classes.”
Due to ‘inconsistency’ in teaching quality, the report said pupils have not made good progress from reception through to leaving in Year 6 in ‘recent years’.
Strengths the school has, have been highlighted by inspectors, including that pupils’ behaviour has improved and an interim executive board has been ‘instrumental’ in beginning to address weaknesses.
Support for teachers to improve quality of mathematics learning has also had an impact, while children also ‘behave well’ and display ‘good manners and positive attitudes to learning’.
The report said: “The executive headteacher and interim headteacher have a clear and open view of where school improvement is needed.
“More settled staffing pro- ● vides a more secure base for this work.
“The interim executive board quickly ensured that a school development plan was in place to help the school move forward.
“Members hold leaders to account through regular meetings, significantly increasing expectations and the pace of improvements.”
Chair of Spinney Avenue’s interim executive board Andy Kent said: “The Ofsted inspection report is a fair reflection both of the progress being made in raising standards at the school and the work that still needs to be done to ensure all children are offered the best possible education.
“We are confident we have the leadership and planning in place to continue the school’s improvement journey.”