We were last inspected by Ofsted on the 1st May 2015.
Ofsted report May 2015
Below you will find the most recent Ofsted report for our school. You will see from the report that our school has been graded as securely good with areas identified as outstanding. Since the last report there had been several changes to the Ofsted framework, in particular ‘good’ is now a more difficult benchmark to achieve and there is a full range from low to high good. We were delighted to hear that only a few ‘tweaks’ would make our school outstanding.
All groups and subjects were considered; you will see that we needed to improve the achievement and progress for some children by the end of Key Stage 1 in maths. We also needed to improve the presentation of pupils work across the school.
There are many points about our school that the Ofsted report doesn’t include, some of which I would like to highlight, beginning with the key headlines for data…
Key Stage 2: The school had been placed in the 1st percentile rank for progress in maths for two years (a grading of 1-100 of all schools nationally) It was placed in the 3rd percentile rank for all subjects in 2014 and the 4th percentile rank for all subjects 2013.
In 2016: Assessments and data systems changed meaning that we can no longer compare consecutive years.
At Key Stage 2: The percentage of children making expected progress for reading, writing and maths (combined) was 76% compared to 53% nationally.
At Key Stage 1: The percentage of children achieving expected attainment in reading, writing and maths was in line with national figures.
In Year 1: 71% of children passed their phonics screening compared to 81% nationally.
In Reception: 81% of children achieved a good level of development in the foundation stage compared to 66% nationally.
Although our data is very impressive there is a lot more to school life than this. During Ofsted it was clear to me that the children were bursting with pride and the desire to show their school at it’s best. Our children show pride in their school, their work and their achievement in many ways, for example through celebration assemblies and musical performances, evidenced in our golden book are the many examples of how much they take pride in helping and supporting one another around school, they look out for each other no matter what age group. The children have consistently demonstrated exceptional behaviour on day and residential trips, their sportsmanship and team work is second to none when competing and attending interschool sporting events. The school council are always keen to find ways to help charities both nationally and locally, they are proud to have enabled a child in Uganda to attend school for the last 8 years.
The report doesn’t mention the very close partnership between school and pre-school providers; we succeed in making the journey to ‘big’ school as smooth and exciting as possible for both children and parents! We work hard to provide good quality before and after school care that supports our working families.
There are so many parts of a school day that just can’t be captured in a report; if they could they would be worth a fortune! An MTA introducing ‘BTS has got talent’ during playtime or a five year old calling ‘Hello Mrs Smallwood, I love you!’ The moments when a child will burst into song, or giggle with glee or almost explode with pride when they have finally cracked a learning problem or when returning from a trip the staff and volunteers can be seen ‘buzzing’ as much as the children!
Learning is a journey that encompasses many elements; we strongly believe that primary school is a time that a child should treasure, where learning is imaginative, creative, active and fun. It is a place where fond memories are created and friendships are made. It is also a place where a child will be not only inspired but challenged to do the very best that they can in order to be able to continue on a successful learning journey of independence, resilience and inquiry.
Most evident during the Ofsted visit was the enormous sense of team work and support from all aspects of our school community, this is something that I am very grateful for. I feel very fortunate that myself and two of my children are proud to be part of BTS.
Melanie Smallwood
Ofsted Report 2015
“Pupils have positive attitudes to learning and behave well in lessons and around the school.”
“Pupils are achieving well because of good teaching, an interesting curriculum and their positive attitudes to learning.”
“The good teaching has a positive impact on pupils’ learning and achievement.”
“Teaching successfully engages pupils and enables them to make good progress.”
“Pupils’ learning and personal development is enriched by a wide range of additional clubs and educational visits.”
“Pupils achieve well overall and attainment by the end of Year 6 is above average. Their achievement is outstanding in mathematics in Years 3 to 6.”
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