Wisbech school results are “woefully low” says Ofsted

A school has been told its results are “woefully low” and despite outstanding behaviour from pupils the standards mean the local authority is concerned.

Orchards Church of England Primary School in Wisbech was told it needed improving in May but when inspectors visited again last month they found there had been “no significant changes.”

Inspector Kim Hall said the school must: “Commission a review of governance urgently,” and “expect more pupils to achieve the same as others nationally for their age by setting aspiration targets in reading, writing mathematics and phonics.”

“Senior leaders have not focused on the crucial areas for improvement and are not tackling weak teaching, for example, in mathematics in Year 6, pupils are often bored as too little is expected of them and the subject knowledge of teachers is too shallow.”

Ms Hall said that during her visit the pupils behaviour was “exemplary” both within classrooms and around the school and pupils were respectful towards adults and interacted well with each other while learning and playing.

“They display a positive attitude to learning and want to work hard, when given the opportunity,” Ms Hall said.

She said the local authority was providing high levels of support and challenge to school leaders and an adviser regularly worked with senior leaders but the impact remained limited due to a lack of rigorous systems.

“Even though school leaders explained that they have started to train staff in subjects such as phonics, results for 2015 have declined further and are woefully low.

“The post Ofsted action plan is not sufficiently focused on the actions needed to raise pupil achievement,” Ms Hall said.

“This has resulted in the improvements in the quality of teaching and learning not having swift enough impact or being seen consistently throughout the school.”