Report makes school proud (From Witney Gazette)

Report makes school proud

8:09am Monday 28th January 2008 in Witney By David Horne

A VILLAGE school has been judged as outstanding with children who have excellent behaviour and friendliness.

St Peter's CE infants school, in Alvescot, was given top grades in 26 categories covering its overall effectiveness, achievements, personal development, quality of teaching, and management.

In only one respect, attendance, did it get a grade two, which is good, in its latest report by an inspector the Office for Standards in Education.

Rob Crompton, the inspector, said in a letter to all 53 pupils: "I was very impressed indeed by your excellent behaviour and tour friendliness. It is an excellent school.

"Your parents think this is an outstanding school, and they are right.

"As well as exciting lessons, you have lots of clubs, activities and trips that help you to learn other things that make your education even more exciting."

The village school caters for four to seven-year-olds from Alvescot and nearby villages - including many from RAF families based at nearby Brize Norton.

As well as headteacher, Sam King, it has two other full-time and one part-time teachers, with four teaching assistants.

Ms King said: "I've been looking through other Ofsted reports on their website, and, while many are outstanding overall, I haven't seen any with outstanding grades in everything "Our attendance could also have been outstanding if some of our young ones hadn't had the illnesses they get at that age.

"We are understandably very proud of ourselves, and it is due to a lot of hard work by the staff and governors and a large amount of support from parents and the local community."

Ms King's own leadership was described as 'excellent' by the inspector, and all teachers were praised for monitoring and observing the progress of each child.

The only areas where the school could improve further were - * Develop more links between subjects to enhance the relevance of the children's learning.

* Refine systems to ensure continuity when staff leave.

A full copy of the report can be downloaded from the Ofsted website ofsted.gov.uk/reports