Birkenshaw Primary School ‘delighted’ to receive ‘good’ rating from Ofsted

Ofsted inspectors visited the school in April and, after spending two days looking at all aspects of school life, rated it “good” in all areas.

Inspectors discussed the curriculum with subject leaders, visited a sample of lessons, spoke to teachers, talked to pupils and looked at samples of their work.

The report said the school is “exceptionally well led and managed by the head teacher”, that “pupils are very positive about their school”, plus how they are “fully engaged in their lessons”.

The report highlighted how one group of children described the school as “supportive and inspirational”.

Inspectors also praised the leaders who have “created an exciting place to learn” and how they are “ambitious for every pupil”.

The report said “leaders have thought hard on how to mitigate the impact of the pandemic”, with the school’s ambitious programme of extra-curricular activities to resume in the coming months and how a catch-up swimming programme has been put in place this year.

Giving her reaction to the report, head teacher Mrs Rebecca Martin said: "Our school vision of care truly is at the heart of everything we do in school and I am delighted that this shines through in our recent Ofsted report.

"To know that our curriculum is ambitious and that our pupils are happy in school makes me extremely proud to be head teacher here at Birkenshaw CE Primary School."

To improve further, the report said the school should look to make its curriculum more ambitious and to use teacher assessment more effectively in foundation subjects.

The inspectors noted that leaders “have plans” and are “taking action to address this”.