Staff and pupils at Chapmanslade CE VA Primary School near Westbury are celebrating its most recent Ofsted report, in which the school retained rating of Good.

During the two-day inspection in March, the team of two inspectors noted that “pupils and staff are proud of their school” and “parents are overwhelmingly positive.”

The school’s then deputy headteacher, Robert Cottrell, led the school through the inspection while ‘acting up’ following the retirement of the previous head, and was successful in securing the permanent headship in the following days.

Mr Cottrell said: “I am extremely proud of our pupils, who showed how wonderful our beautiful school is. It is fantastic that the hard work of our team here at Chapmanslade School has been recognised officially.”

The school, which turned 150 years old this year, has 106 pupils aged four to 11 years and was visited on March 21 and 22 before the Easter holidays.

The Ofsted visit was the first routine inspection the school had received since the Covid-19 pandemic began in 2020. Inspectors discussed the impact of the pandemic with leaders and have taken that into account in their evaluation of the school.

They rated the school ‘Good’ in five areas: the quality of education, behaviour and attitudes, personal development, leadership and management and early years provision.

They said that to further improve, the school needs to support some pupils who fall behind in phonics and are not given the support they need in a timely manner. This means that they do not keep up with their peers.

The inspectors said: “Leaders need to ensure that there is a systematic approach in place so that these pupils get the support they need to read with fluency and confidence.”

They added: In some wider curriculum subjects, the essential knowledge that leaders want pupils to learn has not been identified. This means that there are gaps in what pupils know.

“Leaders need to identify the key components they want pupils to know and remember and then check pupils’ understanding.”

The school’s last Ofsted visit was in November 2016, when it was also rated ‘Good’. 

Following the latest inspection, 100 per cent of parents say they would recommend the school to friends.

The school  has vacancies for pupils in all year groups for next academic year. Contact the school office on 01373 832367 to enquire or arrange a tour.