Ofsted joy for Toynton All Saints school

A primary school’s pupils, parents and staff are celebrating after Ofsted inspectors praised its progression and awarded it a ‘good’ grade.

Toynton All Saints Primary School improved its rating from ‘satisfactory’ to ‘good’ after a no-notice visit from inspectors on October 11 and 12, who published their report last week.

Head teacher Lesley Coulthurst has welcomed the report, which everyone at the school is ‘thrilled’ with.

She said: “The children, staff, parents and families have all worked so hard to improve our school and so we are delighted with the outcome.”

Lead inspector Terry Elston praised pupils’ progression from a below average starting point, to one which exceeded national standards in reading and writing upon leaving.

High standards of teaching where lessons ‘move at a fast pace’ were also praised for achieving the high levels of attainment.

Chairman of governors Ian Steltner has also thanked the teaching staff for their hard work in achieving this grade.

He said: “This is an excellent result for our school – it is through the inexhaustible effort made by all the staff that ‘good’ has been awarded.”

The school’s recently developed ‘Wild at Heart’ outdoors nature park was also singled out as a facility which instilled pride among pupils, who ‘highly valued’ their chances to explore it.

Other aspects of school life praised in the report included, pupils’ awareness of bullying and other dangers, including unsupervised use of the internet, high standards of leadership and a ‘very good sense of teamwork’.

Aspects which prevented inspectors from awarding an ‘outstanding’ grade included the pupils’ ‘slower’ progression at maths at Key Stage Two, compared with English, and a small minority of pupils who did not settle quick enough at the start of lessons.