Ofsted deems West Berks schools to be outstanding

The news comes as a double success after its federated school, Compton Primary, received an outstanding Ofsted report in April this year.
The report, following a two- day inspection last month, judged all categories of achievement of pupils, quality of teaching, behaviour and safety of pupils and leadership and management to be outstanding.
The outstanding rating is the highest grade in the Ofsted ranking system and marks an improvement on its previous inspection of good in November 2007.
Inspectors highlighted that all members of the school community shared the commitment of the headteacher and governing body and that a drive for all students to succeed had led to the impressive improvements since the previous inspection.
Executive headteacher Val Houldey said: “‘It is a pleasure and cause of pride to work with such an inspirational group of people who are clearly so committed to improving the lives of young people through high quality education.
“The staff at both schools value learning and are always wanting to learn themselves. This is the reason the standards they provide are so high.”
The report also found that students were eager to
learn and joined the school with strong literacy and numeracy skills, which allowed them to make rapid progress in their learning.
“Our students are a delight. We have very supportive parents and rigorous governors who accept nothing less than the best. We value highly the relationships we have with our parents, based on mutual respect. All of this is a recipe for success,” Mrs Houldey said.
The chair of governors for both schools, Jan Roberts, said: “The governors are delighted with this judgment. It justly recognises the exceptionally high quality of work which takes place at The Downs. I wish to praise the commitment and skill of the staff.”
The double celebrations will serve as a fitting tribute to Mrs Houldey, who is retiring at Christmas.
“I cannot think of a better retirement present than the outstanding judgments at both schools,” she said.