A PRIMARY school in Severn Beach has said it feels “positive” after a recent Ofsted inspection, despite being graded as “Requires Improvement.”

Severn Beach Primary School, which has 114 pupils and is part of the Castle School Education Trust (CSET), was visited by inspectors between May 3-4.

In the report which was recently released, the inspectors suggested the quality of teaching was “not consistently good” and that there were weak standards in core subjects, especially mathematics.

It also suggested that “some pupils lack pride in their work” which “hampers their presentation and legibility” and that “there is not enough challenge for the most able and most able disadvantaged pupils.”

But with the school having been put into special measures in 2014, the results are however pleasing, with signs of improvement already this year, with the school's new leadership team, including head teacher Tanya Haigh and executive head teacher James Pope, being praised in the report as having made a “huge impact” over the first two terms this year.

Having been sponsored by CSET for the past three years, the inspection identified the leadership in the first two years as having been unsuccessful in making improvements, with Ms Haigh and Mr Pope, who is also Marlwood head teacher having consequently had “a mountain to climb.”

The report said “they are ambitious and keen to drive the school forward rapidly and there are emerging signs of improvement.”

The report also said that, while most points were rated as “Requires Improvement”, the school’s early years provision was ranked as “Good”, the second highest result.

Pupil behaviour was also praised, noting that they show respect to staff and each other.

Ms Haigh, who works alongside executive head teacher James Pope, said that she was pleased that the result of the inspection demonstrated that the school’s self-evaluation was accurate and recognised the hard work of all involved within a short period of time.

“As a school we are very positive about the outcomes of the report,” she said.

“We were all delighted that the inspector picked up on the many strengths of our school and that her areas for development were already things the school had prioritised to work upon

“Our aim is to continue to build upon the good work already started and we are confident that, in a short time, our school will have embedded and consolidated good systems and practice.

“It is important that every child reach their potential, not just in terms of academic progress but also through personal and emotional development.

“We look forward to continuing to work with children, parents and the local community to make Severn Beach Primary a much valued school which serves its community well.”