Thrapston school still requires improvement, says Ofsted

After the January inspection, the education watchdog found Thrapston Primary School had not done enough since 2016 to change its rating.

But Ofsted recognised the school was progressing and that leaders were beginning to improve standards.

The school requires improvement in the effectiveness of leadership and management; quality of teaching, learning and assessment; and outcomes for pupils.

In the personal development, behaviour and welfare, and early years provision categories, the school was rated good.

In his report, lead inspector John Lawson wrote: "Leaders are not as effective as they could be in holding staff to account. As a result, improvements are not as effective as they could be.

"Pupils’ attainment and progress is not consistent. Too many pupils, including the least and the most able, and those who are disadvantaged, do not achieve as well as they should, particularly in writing.

"The quality of teaching is not consistent. Agreed school approaches are not applied equally well.

"Teachers do not have equally high expectations of pupils’ accurate use of spelling, punctuation and grammar, or of the presentation of their work.

"Teachers do not tackle pupils’ errors and misconceptions consistently well."

In terms of strengths, inspectors noted the pupils' good behaviour, the ethos of mutual respect at the school, good phonics teaching, and the children's good start to their education in the early years.

Chair of the school's governors Adam Boon said: "The Ofsted report describes Thrapston Primary as 'an improving school' and it is clear from both pupil outcomes and parental feedback that much progress has been made since the previous Ofsted inspection in 2016.

"Nevertheless, governors and staff accept the judgements made by Ofsted and recognise that there are areas of school life where we must do better."

He added: "The board of governors, the school’s senior leadership team and all members of staff are now working to implement the recommendations of the inspection report.

"In many cases, Ofsted commented on areas for improvement that we’d identified beforehand and so actions were already underway.

"Ofsted recognised this situation but felt that 'some of these initiatives are at an early stage'. With this in mind, we are confident that progress in these areas will be rapid."

The full report can be read online.