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Published:
June 26, 2006
OFSTED
inspectors praise 'outstanding' Burnham Infant School
OFSTED
school inspectors have praised Burnham-On-Sea Infant School as
'outstanding' in a brand new report released this week.
The
school, which is based in Winchester Road and has almost 200 pupils,
was visited by inspectors at the end of May who were clearly impressed
by what they found.
 In
a glowing report, OFSTED's Reporting Inspector, Margaret Dickinson,
says: "This is a good school with some outstanding features.
The school has a supportive and purposeful atmosphere and a strong
sense of teamwork."
"The
youngest children get off to a very good start in the reception
classes. They make very good progress and benefit from outstanding
provision. Most reach the expected standards by the end of the
year."
"There
have been times over the last two years when pupils in Year 1
have made satisfactory, rather than good, progress. However, this
is no longer the case. Pupils now make good progress in Years
1 and 2 because of consistently good, and sometimes outstanding,
teaching and a well-planned curriculum."
The
report goes on to focus on the staff themselves - and here again
the school has come out very positively.
"Teachers
are very skilful at matching work to pupils’ differing needs,"
says Ms Dickinson. "Teaching assistants and volunteers are
highly effective and play a key role in helping pupils to learn.
This year, the school has been providing extra opportunities for
more able pupils."
 "Good
strategies are helping these pupils to move ahead more quickly
in their writing and mathematics. Leadership and management are
good. The headteacher provides exceptionally clear and energetic
direction."
The
only weaker areas highlighted by the inspection team were evaluation
of new initiatives and collating of some records.
"A
relative weakness is that new initiatives are not evaluated soon
enough to check that they are having an effect on pupils’
achievement."
"Teachers
assess pupils’ standards regularly and methodically record
the information obtained. However, this is not collated in an
easily accessible format to help the headteacher identify whether
some pupils could be making even better progress over time."
But
the report concludes: "The school's many strengths mean that
it gives good value for money. Progress since the last inspection
has been good and the school is in a good position to improve
even further."
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