Pinchbeck East Primary School. Picture: Google Maps.

Village school loses top Ofsted rating

A Pinchbeck school that was previously rated ‘outstanding’ by Ofsted has dropped to ‘requires improvement’.

The Pinchbeck East Church of England Primary School Ofsted report from May this year has found the school ‘requires improvement’ in four areas, including effectiveness of leadership and management, and quality of teaching, learning and assessment. Two areas were rated ‘good’.

In the school’s 2012 inspection report, all areas were rated ‘outstanding’.

Andrew Raistrick, executive headteacher, said of the latest report: “We’re disappointed with the report and accept there are areas where we need to improve but inspectors highlighted areas of good practice which is a good starting point.

“With a committed leadership and staff team and the support of our governing body and parents, we are determined to turn this round quickly.”

A statement from the school said: “The report pointed to inconsistencies in teaching and expectations for all pupils as well as the need for more rigour in the assessment of pupil premium pupils.

“The judgement on the outcome for pupils was disappointing as this was based on end of 2018 data.

“Leadership recognised this as requiring improvement as soon as the KS2 results were published and put strategies in place this year to address this dip in data.”

The report found “a decline in standards since the previous inspection” resulting in pupils not reaching their potential, as well as “overgenerous” self-evaluation from leaders, ill-defined leadership roles and inconsistent expectations of pupils.

The report praised the school’s “well mannered and polite” pupils.

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