St George’s Primary School in Stamford retains its ‘good’ Ofsted rating

A headteacher has welcomed the positive feedback following two school inspections which took place within a week of each other.

St George’s Primary School in Stamford has retained its ‘good’ Ofsted rating and was found to be ‘living up to its foundation as a church school’.

The judgements were made following separate visits by Ofsted inspector Martyn Skinner and Joy Hardy, who carried out a Statutory Inspection of Anglican and Methodist Schools (Siams) at the school in Kesteven Road.

Both reports highlighted many strengths within the school, including its sense of community, high expectations, ambitious curriculum and educational achievements.

Executive headteacher Laura Martin, who took charge of the school in September last year, said: “St George’s received its church school inspection and Ofsted inspection in very quick succession during term five. We are incredibly proud that both inspections clearly identified a great many strengths of the school and that we continue to live up to our foundation as a church school as well as maintaining our ‘good’ Ofsted grading.

“Both inspection reports identify the strong sense of community at our school and that our vision and values are well embedded, allowing our staff and pupils to flourish as they ‘let their light shine’. The school was praised for the strength of the curriculum and for its inclusive approach to learning.”

The Ofsted inspector noted that pupils’ achievements are mostly in line with national expectations, with the exception of writing.

Mr Skinner said: “The school has identified that pupils have not received the support they need to develop their writing skills fully. A review of how pupils learn to write has taken place. Changes have been made to how pupils are supported to develop higher-quality writing, including through opportunities to write at greater length. However, these changes are not yet fully embedded.”

Mrs Martin acknowledged there is more work to do in this area.

She added: “Writing has been a key focus for us this year and the Ofsted inspector acknowledged progress so far, as well as confirming that we have more to do in this area for improvements to be fully embedded.

“Writing will continue to be a focus and we look forward to the launch of an improved writing curriculum in the new academic year.”

“We are very proud of both inspection outcomes, the results of which are testament to the hard work of our staff and pupils as well as the support of our families and the wider community, for which we are extremely grateful.”