School near Oswestry told to improve by Ofsted inspectors
Staff and governors at a school near Oswestry say they are determined to improve after Ofsted inspectors rated it as ‘requires improvement’ following an inspection.
At their previous inspection in November 2018 at Morda C of E Primary School was rated as ‘good’.
Now the school says it wants to become ‘good’ again as soon as possible, and hase already begun work to address the areas for improvement identified by Ofsted inspectors.
In the Ofsted report, inspectors ruled that ‘personal development, behaviour and welfare’, and ‘early years provision’ are both ‘good’.
However they found that the ‘effectiveness of leadership and management’, ‘quality of teaching, learning and assessment’, and ‘outcomes for pupils’ all ‘require improvement’.
They rated the school as ‘requires improvement’ overall.
Although inspectors raised a number of concerns, their report does highlight a number of strengths.
Confident
They found that pupils are polite, kind and respectful and are happy to come to school, ‘where they feel safe and well cared for’. They also found that ‘leaders have significantly improved attendance’ and that children get off to a good start in the early years and make strong progress in all areas of learning.
John Eglin, headteacher at Morda C of E Primary School, said: “Morda is a happy, safe school where children are cared for brilliantly. Our fantastic teachers have been working so hard and the inspectors praised the work we have put in place to improve the school since the last inspection in November, and before that.
"The pace of work is dramatic and we are confident that Morda will regain its good status quickly.”
Karen Bradshaw, director of children’s services at Shropshire Council, said: “Shropshire Council wants our children to receive the best possible education. We’re pleased that the headteacher, staff and governors, have already begun work to address the priorities for improvements in the Ofsted report and will continue to support the school to ensure that pupils have consistently good opportunities to learn and to fulfil their potential.”
The two-day inspection took place on May 14 and 15. Inspectors observed lessons, held discussions with the headteacher, pupils, governors and parents. They also looked at a range of pupil’s books and considered the responses to a staff questionnaire and a pupil questionnaire.
