Norfolk primary school requires improvement following Ofsted visit

Thurlton Primary School has been rated as requires improvement by Ofsted. Picture: Nick Butcher. (Image: ©archant2016)

Thurlton Primary School was told it requires improvement in all five of the key areas, including leadership, quality of teaching and pupil outcomes. The last time the school was inspected in 2012, it was rated AS 'good'.

The report, published last week, said: 'Staff turnover and changes to the school leaders have slowed the pace at which the school has been able to secure good teaching and better pupil outcomes.'

It said that although new teaching appointments in September had improved the quality of teaching considerably, it was not 'consistently good' and some was still 'weak'.

It said improvements in writing had been too slow and 'too few pupils reach expected standards at the end of key stages one and two'.

However, the report said the acting headteacher has had a positive impact in the short time she has been leading the school. It praised the 'strong' relationships between pupils and staff and said safeguarding arrangements were 'effective'.

Acting headteacher Ali Hambley said: 'We agree with the inspector about the need to ensure that teaching, learning and assessment is consistently good in every class, to continue to concentrate on improving children's writing and improve planning in order to identify and address pupil underachievement.

'I am pleased that inspectors praised the strong relationships between pupils and adults, and also recognised that pupils are respectful of each other and work and play well together.

'I am confident that with the excellent support from parents/carers, together with the dedication and commitment of staff and governors, we will soon be at a level that is consistently good.'

In order to improve, the report said the school needed to challenge pupils to achieve and regularly check on their learning during lessons.