Our Lady of Lourdes Catholic Primary School in Kingswood had a short Ofsted inspection on February 20 and inspectors say the school continues to be good.
Inspectors highlight a number of positives in the report including ‘all staff report that they are proud to work in the school’ and ‘the majority of pupils are diligent and display exemplary attitudes to learning. Parents and carers report their growing confidence in the school’.
This judgement is testament to the strong leadership team which was put together following a period of transition last year. Louisa Wilson, who joined Our Lady of Lourdes in October 2016 as the national leader of education is praised in the report for her ‘relentless ambition for high standards’.
And the new head teacher, Nick Bracey, who joined the school in January is described as having ‘an acute understanding of the strengths of the school and the areas that require further work.’ Inspectors also say that parents speak highly of the head teacher’s work and welcome his appointment.
Cllr Toby Savage, Cabinet member responsible for schools, said: “I’m delighted for everyone at Our Lady of Lourdes for having achieved this latest judgement from Ofsted. The school has experienced a lot of change over the past year and I am pleased to see that thanks to a lot of hard work and commitment, staff feel proud of their school and the pupils are thriving as a result.
“The council worked closely with the governors and the diocese to help appoint Louisa as the national leader of education to drive up standards. Combined with Nick Bracey’s appointment as the new head teacher, it’s no surprise that inspectors have picked up on the fact that children are enjoying school.”
Chair of Governors, Joan Curran said: “The governors are absolutely delighted and extremely grateful to the leadership and staff for all their hard work in enabling the school to maintain its ‘Good’ status.”
Head teacher Nick Bracey said: “This is a great testament to the hard work of all the staff, children and parents/carers at the school, as well as the support provided by the Local Authority and the Clifton Diocese Department for Schools and Colleges. We are very proud of all that our community has achieved in so short a time and we now look forward to building on this foundation for the future.”
A number of strengths were praised by inspectors in the report:
- the teaching of phonics is increasingly effective
- the improvements made to the quality of writing at key stage 2 mean the quality of writing is now a strength
- leaders and governors focused sharply on improving the progress of disadvantaged pupils this year. In most cases, the additional support they receive is leading to these pupils making accelerated progress
- there is a strong culture of safeguarding at the school.
They also highlighting some next steps for the school to focus on. Leaders and those responsible for governance should ensure that the progress of the weakest readers in key stage 1 is accelerated, through a coordinated approach to whole-class and support sessions. They also asked that best practice in writing is shared across the school so that pupils develop their creativity in writing across the curriculum and more achieve the higher standards.
After Easter, Ms Wilson will return to her former school St Stephens Juniors which is rated outstanding.
