STAFF at Horndon-on-the-Hill Primary has reacted with delight at a recent Ofsted inspection.
Horndon-on-the-Hill Church of England Primary in Hillcrest Road was inspected in early July, but Ofsted does not publish results until the school term restarts.
In July 2013 Ofsted’s inspection found the school needed improvement in three areas and five months later a monitoring inspection found “senior leaders and governors” were “taking effective action”.
This year’s inspection found the school “good” in all five measures – leadership and management; behaviour and safety of pupils; quality of teaching; achievement of pupils; and early years provision.
The report states leaders’ and senior teachers’ vision was clear and good and the improvements they have made “have brought about a rise in attainment in reading, writing and mathematics in both key stages and helped pupils to make good progress in all three subjects”.
The school is also praised for its work with disadvantaged and disabled pupils, the way it works with the church and local community and the report says: “Governors are highly ambitious for the school and work well as a team with the head teacher and staff. They are well informed about the school’s work and have a clear understanding of their role in school improvement.”
Head teacher Travis Martinson said: “I’m extremely proud of all the hard work that the staff, governors and children have put in to achieve this ‘good’ grade.
“I am also thankful for the overwhelming support from the parents and the community. I look forward to developing the school further to work towards a grade of outstanding in the future.”
Cllr John Kent, Thurrock Council’s Leader and portfolio holder for education, said: “This is a tremendous result for the school and everybody involved gets my congratulations.
“A careful read of the report shows the school was very close to receiving an ‘outstanding’ judgement in one or more of the areas.”
He added: “It is also particularly pleasing to see the council’s efforts working with the school have been recognised and so I’d like to say thank you to our teaching and learning team too.”
The report states: “The local authority has supported the school well. The teaching and learning team from the local authority has provided good whole-school training for all staff, including in the early years, as well as offering support for individual teachers. This has increased the school’s capacity to sustain the improvements that have already been made and to improve further.”
Chair of governors, Lisa Fergus, said: “The governing body are extremely proud of the efforts of staff, pupils and the wider community who have worked tirelessly together in order to bring about significant improvement to our school, which has now been officially recognised by Ofsted in our recent inspection.”
