Ofsted inspected our school on the 16th October 2018: the outcomes of this short inspection can be found here. Please take time to read the whole report; it is just 4 pages long.
This is a summary of key points
St Blaise continues to be GOOD SCHOOL because of:
- ‘inspirational and dedicated leadership’ resulting in staff being ‘proud to work’ in the school
- having a ‘accurate view of the school’s effectiveness’ and a ‘reflective approach to understanding how to develop the school further’
- ‘a strong and nurturing ethos, where diversity is celebrated’.
The good relationships between staff and pupils and parents were highlighted:
- ‘pupils love their small and caring school’
- pupils are ‘keen to discuss their learning, which they enjoy’
- ‘parents are also complimentary about the school’ … ‘they put the children’s needs first and really focus on giving them the best education possible’.
Continued strengths of the school and improvements since the last inspection include:
- early years provision – ‘children get off to a flying start in Reception and make strong progress’
- effective governance – ‘governors regularly visit the school to see for themselves the impact that leaders have on school improvement. They are very strategic in their approach to decision-making’
- middle leaders role in improving the quality of teaching, learning and assessment
- inclusiveness of the school ensuring special educational needs pupils and those with disabilities make strong progress
- a commitment to all pupils being given the opportunity to ‘be the very best they can be’
- the broad and balanced curriculum, which is ‘thoughtfully designed and a strength of St Blaise’.
Next steps for our school are to ensure:
- pupils have more opportunities to develop reasoning and problem-solving skills in mathematics throughout the school, so that pupils make even better progress and attain highly
- teaching consistently challenges pupils, particularly the most able, to reach higher standards.