Plymouth primary rated 'good' by Ofsted

Staff and pupils at Shakespeare Primary School are celebrating their latest Ofsted inspection report after inspectors judged them to be a ‘good’ school.

The progress the school has made since the last inspection which judged them as ‘requires improvement’ particularly impressed the inspectors who noted that all pupils now make good progress in reading, writing and mathematics and that attainment is rising and shows consistent improvement.

Ofsted stated: “Teachers plan purposeful and interesting work that enables pupils to practice and apply their skills well. As a result, standards in pupils’ writing are much improved.”

The report also praised strong leadership from the head teacher, Karen Menis, her leadership team and Governors. Karen said: “I am immensely proud of all the pupils, their parents, our staff team and our governors, who have worked so hard to secure a ‘good’ judgement for our school.  To have recognition that we ‘instill a strong sense of ambition for all pupils’ is praise indeed and reflects the aim of our school, both for our pupils and the community as a whole.”

Inspectors from Ofsted visited the school in June and observed lessons, as well as carrying out interviews with pupils, staff and parents as part of their inspection.  Not only did they praise teachers for planning purposeful and interesting work that enables pupils to practise and apply their skills well. They also praised the behaviour of pupils and commented how strongly parents strongly supported the school.

The inspectors were particularly impressed with the Governors passionate support for the school and how they have an accurate understanding of the school’s performance and used this knowledge to challenge leaders firmly, especially in relation to teaching and pupils’ progress.

Chair of Governors Val White said: “I was delighted the school received a positive outcome, that recognised the ambitious ethos of the school, the dedication and hard work of all the staff and governors, and equally the hard work of the pupils and the support of the community with whom we work.  We have always had high expectations from our pupils and this is reflected in this judgement.”