Felpham school getstop report from Ofsted

Ofsted lead inspector David Collard said the children who attended Bishop Tufnell CoE Junior School made consistently good progress.

Standards were rising at the school and are above average across the school, he stated.

"There is clear evidence that improvements in teaching, assessment and support are having a very good impact on pupils' personal and academic progress and standards."

He and his team praised the Pennyfields school of 340 pupils, led by headteacher Shane Morton, for all aspects of its work.

Some areas were judged to be oustanding and received special commendation.

They included how the children behave, how much they enjoy their education, how well they adopt healthy lifestyles and safe practices, how they make an outstanding contribution to the community and how their overall development is excellent.

Mr Collard commented: "The curriculum contributes very positively to pupils' personal development and their increasing levels of independence and responsibility. There is a very good range of extra-curricular activities."

He added that the school needed to raise standards in writing by providing more chances for pupils to practise their writing.

The role of middle managers also needed to be developed to enable them to support the senior leadership team.

The school's inspection took place in late February. The report was published a month later.

Mr Morton said: "I am extremely proud and privileged to lead such a wonderful school."

The inspectors' praises were due to the hard work of staff, the pupils' fine efforts and great support from everyone involved with the school. He promised the school would not be resting on its laurels.

Plans were in place to make it even better, he explained. These included a building redevelopment project, to be completed in April.

This will provide a new classroom, library, technology area, disabled facilities, group-working areas, entrance area, offices, hot meals kitchen and staffroom.

Work will then begin on a children's centre and a new playground area to be completed by July.