Family spirit and hard work help Randwick pupils excel (From Stroud News and Journal)

Family spirit and hard work help Randwick pupils excel

3:20pm Friday 3rd July 2009

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A FAMILY spirit and hard work have helped Randwick Primary School excel in two independent inspections, according to the headteacher.

Fiona Montacute said the attitude of staff and pupils had helped them to achieve the second from top grade of ‘good’ in an Ofsted report and the top grade of ‘outstanding’ in a Church of England report.

"We were delighted with the outcome of both of them," said Mrs Montacute, who has been headteacher at the school for 12 years.

"Our success is down to hard work, the extremely great team of people and I think also the super atmosphere within the school.

"We are like a big family. There’s an attitude within the school where everyone looks out for everyone else and everyone wants to do their best."

The church school, which has just 82 pupils and seven teaching staff, underwent an Ofsted inspection in May and a Statutory Inspection of Anglican Schools (SIAS) in June.

The Ofsted report compares the achievements of the school to government expectations while the SIAS report compares them to the aspirations of the church.

Ofsted inspector Shirley Billington wrote: "This is a good school. Pupils do well academically and their personal development is outstanding."

She found that the children showed ‘exemplary’ behaviour and were keen too learn.

Ms Billington noted that pupils’ achievement was overall ‘good’ with students attaining ‘exceptionally high’ standards in core subjects by the end of Year 6.

She found that children were taught well and staff worked hard to make learning interesting.

Ms Billington also found the headteacher had a very clear direction and that care and support for pupils were ‘outstanding’.

However she suggested that the school needed to provide more chances for children to share ideas, extend the use of ICT to support all subjects and make sure improvement plans had very clear targets.

Meanwhile SIAS inspector Muriel Griffiths wrote: "Christian values underpin the whole life of the school and ensure that everyone feels cared for and valued.

"There is a delightful family atmosphere."

She also noted that the school had strong links with the local church, an excellent provision of RE lessons and collective worship, and developed spiritual learning through special projects and awards.

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