Under-fire Bridgnorth primary school substantially improves under new leadership
A previously under-fire Bridgnorth school has gone from strength to strength under new leadership, Ofsted inspectors have said.
Improvements have been "driven forward" at St Mary's Bluecoat Primary School in since its last inspection more than two years ago, according to a new report.
The school has been judged to be "good" in all categories following an inspection in December. It was previously rated as "requires improvement" in all categories in September 2014.
Since then it has become part of the Trinity Federation, which also includes Beckbury Primary School and Worfield Primary School, under the leadership of executive headteacher Claire Gaskin.
Read the full Ofsted report on St Marys Bluecoat Primary School here
The reports says: "Since joining the Trinity Federation, the new executive headteacher, senior leaders, governors and staff have driven forward improvements with determination."
The school was rated "good" in all areas including "effectiveness of leadership and management", "quality of teaching, learning and assessment", "personal development, behaviour and welfare", "outcomes for pupils" and "early years provision".
Mrs Gaskin said: "When I was initially approached by Shropshire local authority and the Diocese of Hereford to support the school I felt a moral duty to the children and parents to raise standards across the school.
"The staff expertise from Worfield School has helped to develop the team at St Mary's which in turn has raised the quality of teaching and learning. The significant improvements brought about through the work of the federation is now confirmed through this inspection report."
The report also says teaching is good.
It says: "Teaching is good across the school. This results in strong progress in lessons for current pupils over time, in reading, writing and mathematics.
"Pupils say that teachers provide clear explanations and feedback which help them improve their work, and that they often give them harder work if they are ready for it."
The two points inspectors mentioned that the school could do to improve further were to "increase the rigour in checking up on how well pupils are doing in topic work across subjects, so that work is always challenging for the most able pupils" and to "ensure the development of the wider curriculum continues, so that pupils' basic skills are promoted in the full range of subjects".
