'˜Teaching in decline' at junior school, says Ofsted

A school has been warned that the quality of its teaching is in decline and that pupils' behaviour is a cause for concern.

Old Bank Junior, Infant and Nursery School was told following a visit by Ofsted inspectors that it required improvement in four of its five keys areas.

That includes, teaching, leadership, the development and behaviour of pupils, and the outcome for them.

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The Taylor Hall Lane school was found to have been ‘good’ during its last visit from the education inspectors in 2012.

On this occasion, the comments were not as kind.

The report reads: “Leaders and managers are not rigorous enough in their monitoring of teaching and learning.

“Consequently, they have not been aware that the quality of teaching is declining.

Teachers do not insist on better presentation of work, including handwriting.

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“Pupils’ behaviour is too often unruly at break times and physical conflicts occur.

“Pupils say that this is typical behaviour. Pupils commented that there are regularly incidents of name-calling.”

Only the early-years provision at the school was given a ‘good’ rating by the inspectors.

Headteacher Clare Taylor said: “Whilst we are disappointed with the overall outcome, the school’s leadership was already aware of the issues raised by Ofsted and already taking steps to address them.

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“The report praises some of our teaching as ‘excellent’ and makes clear that our pupils are ‘excited’ by their learning.

“One of our priorities is to make sure these great qualities become more consistent across the whole school.

“We are strongly focused on continuing to make improvements and to achieving the highest possible standards for the local community.”

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