Tilehurst school is rated "outstanding" by Ofsted

Birch Copse Primary has "improved considerably", say inspectors

BIRCH Copse Primary School has been rated as outstanding after a recent Ofsted inspection, showing improvement on previous years.

The Tilehurst school in Wittenham Avenue, which has 403 pupils, was visited by four inspectors on November 28 who observed 26 lessons with 14 teachers as well as holding meetings with staff, pupils and parents.

“The school has improved considerably since its previous inspection and provides its pupils with an outstanding quality of education,” the report by lead inspector Hugh Protherough said afterwards.

“This is reflected in the exceptionally strong relationship between home and school and high levels of satisfaction expressed by parents and carers.”

The report noted that pupils' Year 6 national tests in English and mathematics were significantly higher than the national average.

“Pupils' achievement is outstanding. Highly effective arrangements for care, guidance and support and outstanding partnerships underpin pupils' well-being and all-round development,” said Ofsted inspector Mr Protherough in his report.

A previous inspection in January 2007 classed the school as “good”, but noted that school leaders and managers were not setting clear enough direction to improve and promote high quality of care and education, and measures were taken to address the problem.

The school's sustained performance was accredited to “consistently good quality” of teaching and an outstanding curriculum.

The report said: “The skilled work of teaching assistants and appropriate modification of resources to support those with special educational needs are central to the excellent progress made by these pupils.”

To build on the inspection success inspectors challenged the school to improve its core teaching qualities to an outstanding level.

“Though the core of teaching is good, not enough is outstanding to accelerate progress still further. In English and mathematics, teachers make skilled use of assessment information to ensure a close match of task to pupils' abilities.

“This is not yet a consistent feature in the other subjects of the National Curriculum. The leadership team has correctly identified the need to improve provision in the Early Years Foundation Stage.”

“A new teaching team has improved the learning environment and ensures the children are happy, safe and achieving well.”