Ofsted Report
The latest school inspection took place in January 2010.
For a full copy of the report please click on the attached file below.
As you know, the new Ofsted Framework is a far more exacting and rigorous one than in the past. The Chief HMl, Christine Gilbert, felt that the old Framework was no longer appropriate to use for grading schools. She intended to introduce tougher inspections and 'raise the bar', and make it harder for a school to be graded good or outstanding. This has been our experience.
Within the context of this significant change, we are pleased the Report acknowledges so many positive features of our school and of the education we provide for your children. Most aspects of the school's work were judged by the inspectors as being good, and awarded a grade 2. Because Ofsted now places more emphasis on progress than it does on actual standards, our final judgement was graded a 3.
We are particularly proud of the work we do with our youngest children, and with the pastoral care offered throughout the school. The school's strong commitment to equality of opportunity was recognised by the inspection team, as was the quality of the specialist teaching in French and Music, the development of the children's spiritual and cultural awareness, and the support given to children with special educational needs. We were praised for our health and safety procedures and, in particular, for our systems for dealing with bullying.
The inspectors acknowledged our recent work on the creative curriculum, and the fact that we had addressed the issues of the previous inspection, with good work being done to ensure our more able pupils are challenged suitably in Maths. The standards of work are good, with children reaching above average levels by the end of Year 6.
We have 2 main areas to develop further, which concern planning and marking, and Maths. Although the inspectors recognised that our standards are high, they wanted us to make even more progress in this subject. Both of these areas had been identified in our own self-evaluation and form part of our School Development Plan.
We continue to be very proud of the work that we do here at Upton, of the commitment and expertise of our staff and governors,
