It's all good from Ofsted for Thornton's Royles Brook school

Royles Brook Primary School has been told by the education watchdog that all aspects of its work are good and it continues to be classed as a ‘good’ school, a grade it was given in 2015.

The Marsh Road school has been heaped with praise for being “extremely welcoming”, and inspectors found that pupils’ behaviour was “consistently good”.

In a letter addressed to the school, Ofsted inspector Emma Jackson said: “The leadership team has maintained the good quality of education in the school since the last inspection.

“The school has faced some significant challenges in recent months, including staffing issues and extensive flooding.

“However, the school has demonstrated a resilience and determination that have allowed the school to continue to operate smoothly.”

In the latest report, released following an inspection in April at the 275 pupil school, both the headteacher and deputy headteacher were praised for “meticulously monitoring the quality of teaching”.

Staff were also praised for showing a “good understanding of the community” and pupils were found to be “nurtured” and “cared for”.

Royles Brook’s headteacher Helen Murray told The Gazette yesterday: “I am extremely proud of the whole school community, who continue to work together in creating an engaging curriculum and in securing a good education for all our pupils.”

Going forward to ensure it can maintain its status, the school has been advised by inspectors to ensure more opportunities are given to pupils to develop their reasoning skills in mathematics.

It has also been advised to show expectations of what pupils can achieve in history and geography are high enough.

Back in 2005 the school was told it was “not effective enough” as “unsatisfactory teaching led to underachievement” but that there were some “embryonic” signs of improvement.

By 2007, the “serious weaknesses” label was removed and bosses were told it was a “satisfactory and improving school”.

But in 2010 it remained ‘satisfactory’, according to inspectors, with pupils’ progress said to be “satisfactory rather than good”.

During a full inspection in 2013, it was again told it ‘required improvement’ before, two years later, the school achieved its current rank of ‘good’.