Inspector says village school near Wellingborough continues to be good

Wilby Primary School has been rated as good by Ofsted

Wilby CoE Primary School was judged to be good in October 2011 and it has maintained this rating following its first short inspection carried out since then.

Inspector Derek Myers visited the school on November 29 last year and has now published his findings in a letter to headteacher Lisa Pearce.

In his letter, he said: “The leadership team has maintained the good quality of education in the school since the last inspection.

“The last 18 months have been problematic for the school and it has been challenging for leaders to maintain an effective teaching team.

“As a result, there were times when you had to take responsibility for teaching Year 6.

“Despite your best efforts, the relatively high turnover of teachers had a negative impact on the standards achieved by some groups of pupils in Year 6.

“Over the summer, you recruited well and in September 2016, three new class teachers and an experienced inclusion leader joined the school.

“In addition, an established and highly effective member of staff took up the post of assistant headteacher.

“This is a significant change in a small, four-class school and you and governors have managed it well.

“You have effectively inducted the new staff to the school and you are now working well with them to further develop the quality of their teaching and improve the progress made by the pupils.

“The continuing professional development of your staff and the effective future recruitment and induction of staff are key processes that will support the continuing improvement of the school and the outcomes achieved by pupils.”

My Myers also noted that leaders have taken effective action to address the areas for improvement identified in the last inspection report.

And his letter also stated: “There is a positive and friendly atmosphere to the school.

“Pupils and adults get on well with each other.

“Behaviour is good and pupils are confident that if someone were to misbehave, staff would deal with them well.

“Safeguarding is effective.”

Following the inspection report, Miss Pearce said: “I am over the moon.

“We are really pleased because we have had a tough 18 months.”

She said it was great to see their efforts had been acknowledged in the report, and she added: “With the new staff that have come in, it’s a completely different school.

“The whole atmosphere has changed.”

Miss Pearce, who has been at the school since 2001, said they have shared the report with parents and pupils, and they have had lots of positive feedback.

The school has 95 children aged four to 11 on its roll.