Primary school celebrates 'Good' Ofsted rating
A Shropshire primary school is celebrating a glowing Ofsted report of the education watchdog, after having been in special measures in 2017.
The latest report published last week declared that Stokesay Primary School is at the heart of the Craven Arms community. In 2017 at the last inspection, the school was listed as 'requiring improvement' in several areas. However last Friday it celebrated positive ratings across all areas.
The school celebrated this achievement by holding a sports day for all of the pupils. Parents, governors, and other community members were invited to attend the 'We are the Champions Day' which included awarding medals.
The guest of honour at the celebration event was South Shropshire MP Philip Dunne, who said: "I am delighted Stokesay Primary School has been rated Good in its latest Ofsted report. This is a huge tribute to the senior leadership for the school, the headteacher Mr Paul O’Malley, and the whole Stokesay team. So I congratulate everyone involved in bringing about such a significant school improvement here in Craven Arms."
This school improvement is particularly noteworthy as it is the first 'good’ inspection the school has received over a long period of time. Headteacher Paul O'Malley said that it would be the first of many good report cards for the school.
He said: “I have been at this wonderful school for two years now and have seen it grow in confidence and go from strength to strength. We wanted to celebrate with pupils and staff, so we organised a special sports day. We have called it our ‘We are the Champions Day’ because we are so proud of our pupils, and we think they are indeed all champions.”
The primary school was inspected in October 2021 as one of the first round of schools to be inspected since Covid-19 disruption. The inspection was led by Lorraine Lord who gave the school a glowing report.
“The school motto, ‘I can, we can, Stokesay can’ is at the core of this school’s work,” she wrote.
Stokesay School joined TrustEd Schools’ Partnership, in 2019, which is a local academy group.
Sarah Godden, CEO of TrustEd, said: “On behalf of our Trust, we would like to congratulate Mr O’Malley, his team and the school community on this endorsement from Ofsted.
"It is well deserved and shows what the community can achieve, and we have all been thrilled to read such a wonderful and positive report.”
The report explains how positively both pupils and parents feel about their school. The inspector writes that pupils are 'proud of their school', 'learn well', 'enjoy coming to school' and are 'happy in safe at school'.
The sports day was organised by Chris Jew, who leads the TrustEd Sports' Partnership.
