Brightwalton Primary School praised by Ofsted inspectors

THE behaviour of pupils at Brightwalton Primary School was deemed outstanding at a recent Ofsted inspection.Inspectors visited the rural school which has 102 pupils on February 29 and March 1 to carry out assessments, and gave it a ‘good’ rating.

The report, by inspector Carolyn Carnaghan, said: “Pupils’ attitudes to school are extremely positive and this makes a significant contribution to the effective learning environment that wraps around the school and to ensuring that lessons consistently proceed without interruption.

"Pupils show very high levels of courtesy and politeness.

"They express their enjoyment of the kindness and respect that teachers give them and in return treat others with dignity and respect.”

Teaching methods were said to be good but with room for improvement.

The school was reported to be performing well in the two core subjects of which all West Berkshire schools have been told they must improve progress, English and mathematics.

Pupils’ personal development was rated ‘outstanding’ and said that they are “growing as independent thinkers and are highly motivated to achieve well”.

The report identified two further areas for the school to improve; it must challenge all groups of pupils to stop more the advanced being held back and develop management skills to assist the headteacher in improving the curriculum.

The headteacher Susan Ball said: "We are delighted with the positive comments in the report. We are totally committed to ensuring that our children get the best possible platform from which to develop and progress and I think that the observations of the inspector confirm that we are achieving this aim."