St Martin's head teacher thrilled with Ofsted report

Deputy Andrea Dudley-Owen said more time was needed for curriculum improvements to "bed in"

The head teacher of a Guernsey primary school is "thrilled" with its latest Ofsted inspection.

St Martin's Primary School received an excellent rating in the category of Personal Development and Welfare.

The school achieved good ratings in three of the five categories rated in the report.

However, it was rated as requires improvement in the Quality of Education.

St Martin's Primary School received good ratings in the categories of Behaviour and Attitudes; Leadership and Management; and Early Years provision.

'A magical place'

Head teacher Clare Giles said she was "thrilled" with the findings and would continue to work on improvement.

In the report, inspectors recognised staff had "high expectations" for students and had focused on ensuring that pupils learn from a knowledge rich curriculum.

It said leaders had taken decisive action to improve the school's curriculum and recent improvements were beginning to pay off, especially in reading.

However, the report also pointed out school leaders had not clearly set out the most important knowledge they wanted pupils to know and remember in all subjects - an area inspectors identified where improvements could be made.

Mrs Giles said: "Being awarded an 'excellent' judgement for the area of Personal Development and Welfare is a real achievement, which shows how we put our children at the heart of all the decisions we make in our school.

"We of course take on board all the comments made in the report and will continue to work on identified areas for improvement.

"Since taking over as the new head teacher in September 2021, I am extremely proud of our staff's sheer hard work, passion and dedication, along with their relentless drive which has culminated in achieving this really good inspection report.

"I am also incredibly proud of all of our children who strive to be the best they can be every day, and who contribute so much to making St Martin's Primary such a magical place."

'Immense pride'

Only 13% of primary schools inspected by Ofsted in England under its new framework have received an excellent rating.

Deputy Andrea Dudley-Owen, President of the Committee for Education, Sport and Culture, said: "There are so many positive observations in the inspection report and it is clear that both staff and students share an immense pride in being part of that school community.

"It was also pleasing to note that inspectors recognised that significant improvements had been made to the curriculum, but more time is needed to bed them in across all subjects."

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