The Voice of Spalding and South Holland
Staff and pupils at a Spalding school are celebrating after it was rated outstanding in all areas by Ofsted inspectors.
St Norbert’s Primary School came under the microscope in July, when inspectors spent two days looking at all aspects of teaching and learning.
Following the inspection the school has moved from “good” to “outstanding” in all categories, with Early Years jumping from “satisfactory” to “outstanding”.
The rating covers leadership and management, behaviour and safety of pupils, the quality of teaching, achievement of pupils and early years provision.
Headteacher Louise Yarnell is thrilled with the outcome. She said: “I’m totally thrilled by this amazing result.
“I believe an outstanding school is not created overnight. It is a major journey that involves a significant team of people – including the children, all staff, parents and governors.
“In my view we cannot have an outstanding school without putting all our children first in all we do and always wanting every child to achieve highly and reach their full potential.
“Everyone’s hard work has paid off and the children are a total delight to have at St Norbert’s, which makes me incredibly proud and lucky to be the headteacher.”
Mrs Yarnell received high praise from inspectors who said: “The headteacher’s inspiring leadership spreads excellence throughout the school. She has ensured that the spiritual, moral, social and cultural aspects of the curriculum are outstanding. Pupils are well prepared for life in modern Britain.”
Staff and pupils didn’t go without credit either: “The quality of teaching is outstanding. Staff are experienced and highly trained. This, along with exceptionally high levels of care, supports learning extremely well.
“Pupils’ achievement is outstanding. They make rapid and sustained progress over time. As they move up through the school, pupils are consistently well supported to overcome any difficulties and to achieve as well as they can.
“The support staff are a huge strength of the school.
They are extremely well trained and highly focused on pupils’ well-being, personal development and academic achievements.
“Outstanding support by all staff, and other pupils, helps those pupils who speak little or no English on entry to make rapid gains in their learning.”
The only area where the school can improve further is to “increase opportunities for pupils to practise and develop literacy and numeracy skills in other subjects, to ensure the fullest understanding.”
