St Francis Catholic Primary School has achieved a very rare feat after the school was deemed outstanding in all areas which included overall effectiveness, effectiveness of the early years foundation stage, achievement and standards, personal develop
ment and well-being, quality of provision and leadership and management.
In a message to pupils, lead inspector Bogusia Matusiak-Varley said: "We were very impressed by your excellent behaviour, your confidence - especially in reception, years one and two assembly - and your love of learning. Your headteacher and teachers come out top of all the things you like about school. "Yours is an outstanding school and you do exceptionally well in attaining standards that are well above national averages.
"We have asked your teachers to help you make even better progress by using all the information they have on your learning in both their planning and their marking of your work. You can help by asking your teachers what else you can do to improve your learning. We wish you good luck in the future."
Headteacher Denise Shipstone said: "I'm very pleased with this outstanding report. It recognises the hard work and dedication of all staff, children and governors at the school. I feel very proud of everyone."
Chairman of governors Simon Curley said: "As chair of governors, and on behalf of the whole governing body, I would like to extend our congratulations particularly to Mrs Shipstone for her 'relentless drive' but also to everyone associated with the school for all their hard work and dedication.
"We believe St Francis is a great place to be, the children say so. The parents are very supportive and the staff, both teaching and non-teaching, deserve much credit for this wonderful report. Thanks too to the children themselves for their exemplary behaviour.
He added: "We now need to keep the standards up and we've set ourselves high targets to do just that in the new school year. Of course St Francis isn't just for Catholic children, indeed we welcome children of any parent who wants their child to experience a high quality education in a school with a strong Christian ethos."
