‘Inadequate’ school is making progress

Holly Hill Primary and Nursery School, off Portland Road, received an overall inadequate rating from Ofsted inspectors after they visited the school back in May.

A number of areas for improvement were highlighted and in inspectors’ second monitoring visit last month, they found that the required changes were being made by the school staff.

The monitoring inspection report states that Holly Hill ‘has responded quickly to the issues raised at the Ofsted inspection’ and the headteacher, supported by his deputies, has ‘ensured that the actions identified in the school development plan are being carried out and milestones met’.

The inspectors found that pupils are making ‘much better progress in Key Stage 2’, but progress is slower in Key Stage 1 and ‘more needs to be done to ensure that teaching engages and challenges pupils so they make good progress in all lessons’.

The report also states that the quality of teaching at the school has improved and this is due to ‘some strong appointments’ and the fact that more teaching is ‘consistently good and some is outstanding’.

There is now more effective use of pupil tracking data which is helping to secure improvements in the quality of teaching and pupils’ progress.

Weaknesses that Holly Hill still needs to address include quicker improvements in the teaching of letters and phonics to make sure pupils reach the expected level in the Year 1 screening check.

Mark Eadon, the headteacher at Holly Hill Primary School, told Chad that he is ‘very pleased with how things are moving on’ at the school since it received the inadequate Ofsted rating.

He said: “The quality of the teaching has improved and the progress the children are making is a lot better than it was.”

“I am very confident that we are moving in the right direction,” Mr Eadon added. “I am pleased with the way the whole school community has pulled together.”