Shoreham Village School goes straight to Good

OFSTED has published its report on its most recent visit to Shoreham Village School and it makes for very happy reading.

The school was previously inspected in November last year and found to be making progress towards the removal of Special Measures. It has now gone straight to a Good rating, bypassing entirely the Requires Improvement rating.

While it is not completely unheard of for a school to make such rapid progress while coming out of Special Measures, it is most unusual. The Ofsted visit started as a Section 8 monitoring exercise (which reviews the progress of a school in Special Measures) but morphed into a full inspection as it became apparent to Ofsted that Special Messures were no longer applicable.

The report is also comprehensively favourable, with a Good rating in all areas. This is a great tribute to pupils, staff and governors, and to the galvanising impact of Gillian Lovatt-Young as head teacher. Ofsted says that "her uncompromising drive to raise standards, coupled with good quality training and development for staff, has brought about rapid improvements in teaching and achievement."

As I mentioned before, I was very encouraged by all that I saw on my last visit to the school late last year - it is good to see that the school has made such remarkable progress, to the benefit not only of staff, children and families, but also of the village.