A struggling school in Ipswich placed in special measures has shown signs of progress, after its latest Ofsted inspection.
Rose Hill Primary School in Derby Road, was put in special measures following an inspection in October 2013 for “failing to give their pupils an acceptable standard of education”, but has shown “reasonable progress towards the removal of special measures” after a visit on November 5 -6.
Staff at the school have made progress despite the tight deadlines, thanks to a dedicated plan to improve consistency of teaching, leadership of the school and communications with parents and carers.
Linda Hatcher, the school’s acting headteacher, who last month was appointed substantive headteacher, has been keen to make progress through a detailed strategy.
She said: “We are incredibly happy that progress is being made towards the end goal of coming out of special measures.
“We identified systems that needed to be improved, and it was about achieving consistency.”
As part of its progress, the school has implemented a new leadership team, liased with governors and parents more, and made teaching across the school of a consistent quality.
Ofsted’s report also praised Mrs Hatcher’s resilience in dealing with the challenge, and determination in strengthening the teaching and leadership.
Mrs Hatcher added: “We have moved a long way in a very short space of time thanks to a very clear action plan and a strong team effort, including all teachers, teaching assistants and governors.”
The team is hoping that by the next monitoring inspection in spring next year, the school will be out of, or almost out of special measures.
Mrs Hatcher added: “We won’t be stopping and resting on our laurels once we are out of special measures, and we will be continuing an action plan to ensure Rose Hill is a school parents want to send their children to.”
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