Shrewsbury school rated ‘good’ by inspectors

Following an Ofsted inspection in October, St Giles Church of England Primary School, in Belvidere, is now rated good in four out of five inspection categories, while the “personal development” category is rated as outstanding.

The school was told to make changes following an inspection in 2019, with inspectors noting a “disjointed” curriculum and “unambitious” leadership.

However, the most recent inspection report noted improvement in both areas.

“The school has put in place ambitious curriculum plans. They are sequenced, so that pupils can build on their previous learning in greater depth or revise their learning,” it said.

“Leaders set high ambitions for all pupils to do as well as possible. This means that standards, including in reading and mathematics, are high by the time they leave school.

“Leaders put the interests of their pupils at the heart of all they do. They make sure that all pupils, whatever their needs, are engaged in the life of the school.”

The report noted that the school had an increasing number of pupils with special educational needs (SEND), and said the school needed to make better adaptations to help them to do well at their school work. It also said that the school’s senior leadership team were often too busy helping SEND pupils to carry out their strategic roles.

“The school has an increasing number of pupils with SEND, including some with very high needs,” the report added.

“The school should ensure that adaptations made are sufficient to enable all pupils to achieve well, including in early reading.

“The school should ensure that the school has the resources and capacity to meet the increasing needs of pupils with SEND, and so relieve senior leaders’ workload.”

In a message to parents, a spokesperson for the school said: “Thank you for all of your kind words and congratulations following the sharing of our recent Ofsted report. We are very proud of the staff team, pupils and whole school community.”