TEACHERS and children at a flagship £7.5 million primary school in York are celebrating after news that it has been bumped up to “satisfactory” status.

A report, by education body Ofsted, showed Hob Moor Primary School, in Acomb, has shown “rapid improvement” after the school was given a notice to improve following Ofsted’s October inspection in 2007.

The school, which has 314 children on the roll aged between three and 11, was opened in May 2006, along with Hob Moor Oaks Special School and a Children’s Centre and nursery on the same site.

Failings in the October 2007 Ofsted cited poor attendance rates and bad behaviour among pupils, inconsistent management of bad behaviour and below-average attainment rates.

The school was asked to raise standards in science by Year Six, improve pupils’ attendance and behaviour in order to improve the overall quality of learning, and ensure the quality of teaching and learning was consistently good across the school.

After its inspection at the end of last month, Ofsted concluded that the school had improved significantly and rapidly enough to achieve satisfactory status rather than its previous “inadequate” branding.

Inspector Christine Harrison said in her report: “This is a satisfactory and improving school. Since the previous inspection, the school has made good progress. “Behaviour and attendance are now both satisfactory and more pupils now attend school regularly and, therefore, have uninterrupted opportunities to develop their skills and understanding.” She added that standards were high in science, maths and English.

The report also stated that teaching was good overall, and that teachers planned lessons carefully and explained new ideas clearly and went on to praise Angela Charlton, school principal, on her leadership and management.

Mrs Charlton, who has been in the post for a year, said: “We are absolutely delighted with the report. “As a result of this good progress, Ofsted now is of the opinion that the school no longer requires significant improvement and is a “satisfactory and improving school”. “A major area is ‘the significant improvement’ in pupils’ behaviour which is consistently mentioned and is now having a positive impact on pupils learning. “Overall, this report for staff and governors it is an important recognition of the hard work that has been put in place during the last year, but also, more significantly, the report recognises that Hob Moor Primary’s capacity to improve still further.”


Looking to improve

ANGELA CHARLTON said the school would still be looking to improve in 2009.

Areas were the school wants to improve:

* Early Years foundation framework
* Constantly revise standards
* Constantly improve teaching.

Areas where the school does well:

* Curriculum and other activities
* Care, guidance and support
* Leadership and management
* Good capacity for further improvement.