Lanesend Primary School has said that it is ‘disappointed’ at the outcome of its recent Ofsted inspection — which saw its rating drop from ‘Good’ to ‘Requires improvement’.
The school on Love Lane in Cowes was told its quality of education, leadership and management, and early years provision all required improvement by the education watchdog.
Inspectors found expectations of what pupils could achieve were not always as high as they should be and ‘too many’ pupils did not learn to read quickly. The issues also affected those with special needs and/or disabilities (SEND), whilst there was no validated phonics scheme in place to help all pupils make rapid progress.
Caroline Sice, Lanesend headteacher, said a new government-validated phonics scheme had been implemented and the school was working alongside a support hub in Southampton.
Inspectors also found the curriculum in most subjects was not coherently planned and, as a result, pupils did not consistently make good progress in learning and remembering it. They said pupils remembered random facts rather than important knowledge in subjects such as science.
Another issue, inspectors noted was with trustees of the school being inexperienced and they had not held the headteacher nor senior leaders to account over low expectations, a decline in performance and the failure to meet statutory duties. Trustees relied on the opinion of senior leaders and as a result had been led to believe the school was performing better than it was.
Mrs Sice said to address the issues, a national leader of governance would be visiting trustees next week. Some parents with SEND children had found it difficult to communicate with leaders about their children’s education.
However, the behaviour and attitudes of pupils and their personal development were rated as good. Pupils enjoyed coming to school, which was demonstrated by high rates of attendance, and school days were full of memories of wonderful events, activities and trips.
Mrs Sice said so many of the good things inspectors shared with the school had not been written in the report, including 96% of school families recommending the school, or the ‘stunning’ learning environment.
She said:
“As a school, our aim is, and always will be, to generate a lifelong love of learning and help every child grow into the very best adult.
“We have been so touched by the support of our families and children who have shared with us that they did not choose the school because of its Ofsted rating but because of the wonderful feeling of the school and how much their children love coming to Lanesend Primary School.”
Oops oh dear suck it up buttercup. How the mighty have fallen. Perhaps it needs more qualified teachers and less teaching assistants
Do you mean fewer teaching assistants? The need for qualified and competent teachers is real I see.
Schools have had funding taken and had to cut back on LSA support, also under Hampshire Island schools have been abandoned so what to expect,as more schools will go under spot light more will show a downturn. If school’s weren’t forced to teach other non useful subjects they could focus on 3 R’s first.
We had our daughter attend this school and every morning she would wake up crying to get ready, not what you want at 7 years old. She would get frustrated that children with higher needs would get all the attention from teachers and her learning was suffering….
She was severely undeveloped by this school and her learning age was 2 yrs below what it should be.
Everytime we paid the office money for lunch or trips it would dissapear..
Im so glad we made the right choice and moved out. They are more interested in money than developing children. Im suprised its not been shut down
wtf……………….really ???
Spose it is a bit of a s**t hole down that road.
A child of 7 with a learning age of 5 was disadvantaged because children with *greater* needs got more attention than she did?
Now, why don’t I believe this?