PEMBERLEY Academy has been judged as Good by OFSTED this month, which is the first formal inspection since the school opened in September 2015.
The 2 day inspection which judges primary schools across 5 keys areas being outcomes, Behaviour and welfare, quality of teaching, early years and leadership found that the Hodings road school has solidly met the criteria for being Good across all areas.
During the inspection which includes meetings with staff, parents, governors, lesson observations and scrutiny of policies and data the lead inspector observed that âthe school is determined that pupils will succeed through a combination of family support, effective teaching by staff who feel valued and a central role in the local community.â
The quality of teaching was judged to be consistently good with the report citing the ârecruitment of dedicated and skilled teachersâ as a key driver behind the consistent delivery of high quality lessons, with the impact of this being high quality outcomes for children who âmake increasing strong progress from their starting pointsâ with consistent standards of high quality work evident in their books across all subjects.
In addition to the quality of teaching across the school and the subsequent outcomes the report also praises the school for looking after the welfare and behaviour of itâs children with what it calls âa strong culture of careâ and that children are well looked after by the staff and that this was a âstrength of the school.â
It was noted that the children behave âextremely well around the school with few exceptionsâ and that âPupils are confident and extremely respectfulâ. The school also received high praise for itâs work with children that have special educational needs and those who are EAL and speak English as their second language.
âThis is the first major milestone on our journeyâ said Headteacher Neil Coster âHaving opened our doors 3 years ago with a building that wasnât finished, limited resources and a huge number of challenges this is validation that everything weâve done as a school community has been correct and it is gratifying that we now have an official validation of all of our hard work.â
âI personally see this judgement as a huge victory for the community of Harlow as much of what weâve achieved has been done with local people at the forefront and itâs an advert for what the people of this town can achieve.â