Cannock's Moorhill Primary School is 'improving' at last
A Cannock primary school which has been struggling for eight years is finally on its way to becoming a 'good' performing establishment.
Ofsted has declared that Moorhill Primary is at last taking 'effective' action towards making improvements outlined by the education watchdog following an inspection earlier this year.
The Pye Green Road-based school, which caters for around 390 youngsters, was given the bottom rating of 'inadequate' in 2008.
Since then it has had four full inspections but never hauled itself above a level three rating of 'satisfactory' in 2009 and 2011 under the old Ofsted system, and 'requires improvement' in 2013 and January this year under the new ratings.
Following the January visit, inspectors said: "Pupils' progress in English and mathematics is not consistently good in key stage two.
"This means that pupils are not always able to reach the standards expected of them.
Click here to read the full Ofsted report
"Pupils do not have sufficient opportunities to further develop their skills in writing at length and across different subjects.
"The teaching of skills to enable strong progress in grammar, punctuation and spelling is not yet consistently effective across all year groups."
The watchdog also criticised governors for not being thorough enough.
But since then, Ofsted carried out a 'monitoring inspection' in June and has now reported back on its latest findings.
In a letter to the headteacher, inspector Charalambos Loizou said: "You and the deputy headteacher, together with the governing body, have devised effective plans to sustain improvement.
"Most parents I spoke to are positive about the school and their children's progress.
"The school improvement plan identifies the right priorities to improve pupils' achievement and teaching.
"Leaders' evaluations of the impact of their actions to raise standards are accurate.
"There are now more rigorous checks on the quality of teaching, pupils' work and progress."
The inspector also praised governors, adding: "The governing body is provided with a clear analysis of the standards achieved in each phase of the school.
"The introduction of achievement teams and leaders in each team has increased the capacity for sustained improvement beyond the senior leadership team since the previous inspection.
"There is now greater clarity and direction for the school's improvement. Leaders, governors and staff are in a stronger position than at the time of the previous inspection in January 2016."
It said since January, there had been a combined effort to tackle 'underperformance'.
