Turnaround as school near Shrewsbury now rated good by Ofsted

Oakmeadow Primary and Nursery School in Bayston Hill has been praised by Ofsted for eradicating weak teaching and for improving the achievement of pupils since its last inspection in April 2014.

The school has been judged to be "good" in the new report.

Carla Whelan, the school's headteacher, was praised for her "outstanding, exceptional leadership" and along with other senior staff she had made rapid improvements and "developed a strong culture for good teaching and learning across the school".

Read the full Ofsted report on Oakmeadow Primary and Nursery School

The school, which has 372 pupils on roll aged between three and 11, was visited by inspectors in May.

They found that teaching had improved and that since the previous inspection, the governing body had taken effective actions to hold the school to account and improved the quality of teaching and outcomes for pupils.

But they also found that while standards in writing and maths had increased rapidly, progress in reading had not been as quick.

The inspectors also criticised the teaching of artistic learning as occasionally lacking depth and that on a few occasions pupils did not receive the full attention of their teacher. The leadership of the school was found to be outstanding and staff were praised for their "relentless drive" to improve the quality of teaching and pupils' achievement. Weak teaching had been eradicated and teaching was now good.

"Since the last inspection, teachers have worked hard to develop a consistent whole-school approach to giving pupils precise guidance about how to improve their work. This is working extremely well across the school," the inspectors said.

"There were slight inconsistencies in the quality of teaching across the school and the best practice in the school is not yet shared as effectively as it could be.

"The school's work to promote pupils' personal development and welfare is outstanding. Pupils show great respect for others and tolerance of differences. The progress made by pupils has risen considerably since the time of the last inspection."

The school's early years provision was deemed to be outstanding.

Inspectors noted that children make very rapid progress from their starting points. Children are extremely well prepared for the next phase of their education in Year 1.

Leadership of the early years was found to be outstanding and is having an excellent impact on improving the quality of teaching and the children's rapid progress.

Mrs Whelan said: "I feel blessed that we have a committed and dedicated team of staff who have supported the school on what has been a difficult journey and at every point, putting the children first.

"The staff have all given above and beyond to ensure Oakmeadow pupils have the best."

I have outstanding support in the senior leadership team and we work closely each day to secure the best learning opportunities here at school.

"I would like to thank everyone and look forward to the next step."