Ofsted praise for Stratford school that has ‘improved significantly’

A STRATFORD school is high-performing, according to its latest Ofsted report.

St Gregory’s Catholic Primary School received the report following an inspection 4th-5th March when the Ofsted team assessed whether the school had taken effective action to maintain the standards identified at the previous inspection.

It was the school’s first section eight inspection since January 2020 and the conclusions were described as “glowing” by headteacher Laura Cole.

“The outcome of the report concluded that the school’s work has improved significantly across all areas since our previous inspection, which obviously is an outcome that we’re really excited to share,” Miss Cole told the Herald.

“Our last two inspections were both ungraded. We have been a ‘good’ school, which was the physical graded title. When they came this time, it was ungraded again so you couldn’t change the title as such, but there were multiple outcomes of the inspection.

“One of the outcomes is that, as a school, you maintained ‘good’, but the outcome that we achieved was that the school has improved significantly across all areas since our previous inspection.

“We are exceptionally proud of our pupils, of our teaching team and of our parents for working together to make that happen. We are a magnificent community here at St Gregory’s.”

Specifics in the report were shared on the school’s social media pages, and Miss Cole said there was particular pride in the way Ofsted spoke about St Gregory’s.

The report stated: “This school plays a significant role in the lives of its community. Parents and carers are welcomed and engaged as vital members of the community.

“Pupils develop a genuine love of learning at this high-performing school. They work extremely hard and take their studies seriously.”

And the inspectors added: “Staff regularly listen to pupils read. Any pupils who need extra support are identified quickly and helped to keep up. For instance, some pupils come to school earlier in the morning to participate in additional booster sessions.”

Miss Cole said: “There were particular things in the report that really stood out that we wanted to celebrate within the community. Within the report, the inspector wrote that pupils develop ‘a genuine love of learning at this high-performing school’ and that they ‘feel a strong sense of belonging and feel safe at the school.’

“We were very proud that they’d written that.’