You may remember that last half term, Ofsted completed their monitoring inspection of the school, albeit virtually and this week we have received the report.
It was a tiring couple of days with myself and Mrs Fox suffering with Covid-19 at the time but we are really pleased with what Ofsted has to say about our school since visiting last January.
In particular, I am thrilled that they could see the hard work that has gone into establishing RWI within our school to support our youngest pupils with their Early Reading and Phonics. All of our staff have worked incredibly hard to establish this but none of it would have happened without our amazing RWI Leader, Miss Welburn. Miss Welburn has done such a fabulous job training up our staff and ensuring that the children are being taught exactly what they need, in order to keep up or catch up quickly if they are not on track. Early Reading and Phonics has gone from being an area for improvement, to one of our strongest areas in school, I am confident that Early Reading will continue to go from strength to strength and we will ensure that every child leaves Y2 being able to read at a level appropriate for their age.
In addition, as a school we have worked tirelessly to ensure that as many pupils as possible had access to an education whatever their context during Lockdown 3 and due to technology issues, this meant that at Carcroft, we had a large proportion of pupils onsite. Again, I am pleased that Ofsted recognised this and feel extremely proud of our staff team, whereby every member of staff worked onsite throughout Lockdown 3 providing an onsite education to 75% of the pupils whilst ensuring that the 25% of pupils learning remotely also received an education which was of a high standard. The staff at Carcroft really are an asset to the school and I am so pleased that Oftsed recognised this too.
Finally, we have also really focussed in on further improving our culture for learning this year through the launch of Crew, HoWLs and Expedition, none of which would have been possible without the support of the XP Trust. Our school culture really has been transformed as a result of some of these practises and again Ofsted recognised this.
Carcroft primary school has unfortunately not been rated as a ‘Good’ school since 2008. In 2012 the school was judged as ‘Satisfactory’ the now ‘Requires Improvement’ and since then, the school has found it extremely difficult to get back to being an Ofsted rated ‘Good’ school.
I joined Carcroft in 2015 as a Deputy Headteacher and knew that as a team we had some work to do to get the school to where it needed to be. However, after spending a year as Deputy, I knew that I wanted to make a difference to the education being provided for the pupils of Carcroft as I did not feel that it was good enough and after Ms Willis’ departure in 2016, decided to step in as Acting Headteacher. 4 and a half years on, after becoming the substantive Headteacher of CPS, I continually strive to make a difference to our community. The last 4 and a half years have been a real learning curve for me after facing some significant challenges around inclusion and behaviour, in order to then be able to provide a high quality learning experience for our pupils. However, we really have turned a corner with this and I truly believe that our school has improved considerably in the last 12 months and is well and truly on the road to being ‘Good’ or better.
Our children deserve the very best education and I really do feel that every term the education in which we are providing for our pupils is going from strength to strength, despite the pressures of a global pandemic. We strive to be the best version of ourselves every day and I want to thank everyone who has been involved in this journey over time.
Although we are not yet judged to be Ofsted Good, I walk around our school and know that we are striving to be there and feel that our pupils are getting a really good deal with us at CPS but we will ensure that this standard does not slip and it’s our mission to just get better each and every day. We don’t know when our full inspection will take place due to the pandemic and also with us converting to an academy within the next two months, but when we do, we will be ready to showcase the amazing work of our pupils and school.
I know that this last year has not been easy for parents and I understand that bubble closures have had implications on families in the last week, so I would like to thank you again for supporting us as a school and would like to show my appreciation for all in which you are doing.
I am extremely proud of everything in which we have achieved over the last few years and look forward to continuing this journey with you after the Easter break.
Miss Laing
Headteacher