Great Barr's Hamstead Junior rated 'good' in every area

Ofsted carried out a two-day inspection at Hamstead Junior in Great Barr last month and have now published their findings.

The watchdog has rated the school, which caters for around 230 pupils, as 'good' in every area paying tribute to chiefs who have turned its fortunes around since 2014, when it was deemed to 'require improvement'.

Their report stated: "As a result of effective leadership, management and governance, the school's effectiveness has improved since the last inspection and continues to do so.

• Click here to see the full Ofsted report

"Teaching has improved and is now consistently good.

"Work set challenges pupils of varying abilities.

"Pupils across the school achieve well as a result, particularly in reading and mathematics.

"Standards of attainment have risen considerably in the last two years and are now much higher than average by the end of year six. Pupils are well prepared for secondary school.

"Pupils enjoy learning at Hamstead. The curriculum motivates pupils well."

Ofsted also declared disadvantaged pupils were achieving well due to the effective use of pupil premium funding.

They confirmed that pupil attendance had got better with most attending regularly and credited the safety and wellbeing of youngsters.

The student's good behaviour was also noted.

The report added: "Pupils are well-behaved, polite, considerate and respectful. Their spiritual, moral, social and cultural awareness is well developed."

The watchdog set out several areas where the school could improve towards the top rating of 'outstanding', which included focusing around students' ability to write, use grammar, spelling and punctuation, attain more consistency in progress among youngsters with special needs, and apply more rigorous checks on children's writing and the performance of teaching assistance.

Elaborating on the effective leadership at the school, inspectors said: "Senior leaders and governors demonstrate clear ambition for their school community.

"They are visible and accessible around school. They work effectively together and with other colleagues in the school, constantly praising and challenging performance as appropriate to ensure that the school continues to improve.

"Effective action has been taken to address the areas for improvement identified at the last inspection. Leaders have ensured that teaching across the school has improved. As a result, standards of attainment have risen considerably and pupils now achieve well."