The continued improvements being seen at Aylestone School have been praised by Ofsted, with the Hereford school now being rated as ‘Good’ in two of the four categories graded by inspectors.
The praise comes following a full inspection on Tuesday 9th and Wednesday 10th July where it was noted that staff ‘build warm and supportive relationships with pupils’, work hard to ensure that pupils are ‘well prepared’ for life beyond school and also that everyone knows each other well.
As one parent commented in response to Ofsted’s survey, ‘staff genuinely care and make every effort to put parent and child worries at ease.’
Inspectors found pupils to be polite and to greet visitors ‘warmly’ and highlights the way the children talked about the friendships bonds they have formed since being at the school.
The positive attitude shown by pupils in lessons was praised and incidents of bullying were found to be rare, with pupils having ‘every confidence’ in staff to resolve issues should they occur.
Academically, the school’s curriculum was noted as being ‘suitably ambitious’ for all pupils – including those with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND) – and that ‘topics build logically over time so that it is clear what pupils should know, understand and be able to do at the end of each year and key stage’. A suitable number of subjects is also on offer for pupils to study.
The teaching in mathematics and history received praise from Ofsted and the careers programme was flagged as being ‘well-planned’.
Importantly, the school’s personal development curriculum was found to be well thought through and age appropriate, with the pupils’ mental health and wellbeing ‘at the fore’ of their curriculum and the support and guidance they receive in this area being valued.
Mr Simon Robertson, Executive Headteacher at Aylestone, said:
“This is a pleasing report and it once again clearly demonstrates that our school’s continuous drive for the highest possible standardsis bearing fruit. The inspectors acknowledged that we had addressed all the areas of improvement from our last inspection and to read so many positive comments from Ofsted is very satisfying.
“While we know we still have further areas for improvement, almost all the points picked up by inspectors had already been identified internally and work is ongoing to make the changes required to take us to the next level.
“The ambition here remains to ensure that Aylestone becomes the very best school it can be and I’m incredibly proud of my staff and all the pupils we have.
“There is no doubt that our school’s upward curve is continuing, and I am very much looking forward to seeing the positive outcome of the current work that is being done to achieve further improvements.”
