A County Durham primary school has been placed in special measures after plummeting from inspectors’ second highest rating to its lowest within three years.
Shield Row Primary School, in Stanley, County Durham, has been labelled inadequate by Ofsted inspectors in a report published last week.
The school, which has 214 pupils, was judged as ‘good’ by the schools watchdog when it was last visited in March 2011 but has dropped to the lowest rating with none of the five inspection criteria awarded a rating above ‘requires improvement’.
An inspection team has told the school it must eradicate inadequate teaching and raise teachers’ expectations, address poor progress in reading and writing in Years one to four and improve leadership which was branded ‘lax’ in a report published this week.
Governors and school leaders were accused of being ‘complacent’ about school performance with weaknesses in checking pupil progress identified as a major concern.
In the report, Lee Owsten, lead inspector, said: “Governors do not have an accurate understanding of the school’s weaknesses.
“They have been too reliant on the overly-generous reports of the headteacher and have not questioned the content of these sufficiently or undertaken their own checks to assure themselves of the accuracy of the information they are being given.
“As a result, they are not aware of the decline in pupil outcomes at Key Stage 1 and do not associate slower progress made by pupils with weaknesses in the quality of teaching.”
However, some aspects of the school were praised including strong adult volunteers which enable small group working and help improve academic standards. The school is also strong at Key Stage 2.
Andrew Knighton, headmaster of Shield Row Primary School, said: “Everyone connected with the school is extremely disappointed with the outcome of the inspection.
“The issues raised by the report will be dealt with swiftly by staff in school, with the support of the Local Education Authority.
“We will build upon Ofsted’s own October 2014 data that shows Shield Row Primary is in the top 6% of schools nationally for progress in Key Stage 2.
“All children, including disadvantaged children and those on the special needs register, made progress that was significantly above the national average.
“The support from our parents and the local community has been overwhelming. Governors, staff and parents will continue to work tirelessly to ensure the children at Shield Row have a school they can continue to be proud of.”
Caroline O’Neill, head of education at Durham County Council, said: “Although we are disappointed that Shield Row Primary has been placed into special measures, there are clear and positive signs of progress at the school.
“Typically when children enter the school their starting point is below average for their age but they reach standards which are in line with national average by Year 6.
“Progress by the end of Key Stage 2 is also consistently in line with, or above, the national average.”
