Brighstone CE Primary School is celebrating achieving a ‘good’ rating from Ofsted following a recent inspection.
Children, staff and parents were delighted with the news, which recognises improvements made at the school in recent years.
“Sits at the heart of the local community”
The report praises the village school “which sits at the heart of the local community”, highlighting the children’s good behaviour, along with the pride they take in their school.
Inspectors recognised the steps the school had taken to improve on its previous rating of ‘requires improvement’ by taking “decisive action to improve the curriculum and pupils’ learning” and demonstrating “robust systems to check how well pupils are learning”.
It found children to be “confident and fluent readers” and pupils with special educational needs were “appropriately supported with their learning”.
Understanding of their local area and beyond
As well as improvement in curriculum taught at the school, the report highlighted how pupils benefit from many wider opportunities which “give them an understanding of what their local area, and beyond, has to offer”.
Inspectors found children were proud of their contributions to the Brighstone Horticultural Show and performances with their choir or country dancing at community events.
School trips to the mainland, such as a recent visit to the British Museum in London, help to “build pupils’ cultural understanding as well as enhancing their learning in the classroom”.
Curiosity about the natural world
Pupils’ curiosity about the natural world is also encouraged and nurtured at the school. During their visit, inspectors observed children showing excitement about blue tits they could see nesting near their classroom, with staff helping them to use books to find out about other birds and new vocabulary.
Fairclough: Rating validates the quality of education offered
Steve Fairclough, Chair of Governors, commented,
“I and my fellow Governors are incredibly proud of the continued hard work that all the staff do at Brighstone.
“The Ofsted Good rating validates the quality of education offered at our school.”
Lennon: We welcome the positive comments in the report
Headteacher Rebecca Lennon, said,
“We are delighted that Ofsted has recognised our school as being ‘good’ in all areas. We welcome the positive comments in the report which reflects all the hard work which goes on in our close-knit school – a school which pupils are rightly proud of.
“We look forward to continuing our journey to build on our successes to give the children the very best start to their education.”
The report
Inspectors visited Brighstone Primary School on 6th and 7th February 2024. You can read the report below.
For more information about the school, please visit the website.
News shared by Rebecca, on behalf of Brighstone Primary, in her own words. Ed
