School’s delight

10:36am Wednesday 23rd July 2008

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TWO floods in three years have failed to stop a York school receiving a glowing Ofsted report.

Clifton with Rawcliffe Infant School, in Eastholme Drive, was rated as “good” in all areas of the report with the foundation class being deemed “outstanding” along with the extent to which children live healthy lifestyles.

The report comes after the school, which has 270 pupils aged between three and seven, was flooded out in 2005 and then again in June of last year.

Head teacher Chris Wigley said that last year the school hall, offices and the computer suite were all awash with floodwater although the classrooms remained dry. He said: “It had quite a major effect on us, but we were able to use that difficult situation to our own advantage as we were able to change things. We were able to lay a new hall floor, put in disabled access and increase the size of the ICT (information and communication technology) suite.

“We were able to do a rack of things because the place was stripped out.”

Mr Wigley said the school has also benefited from better funding over the last three years following a period of underinvestment.

Among other improvements the school has much better facilities for the youngest children in the school in the foundation class and this was picked up on by the Ofsted inspector who rated the facilities as “outstanding”.

The foundation stage classroom is now bright and airy with ICT access, a good level of staff and excellent outdoor facilities.

In her report the Ofsted inspector said: “Clifton with Rawcliffe School is an effective school which is improving at a good rate following its recent disruptions. The majority of parents are supportive of the school. This is typified by such comments as, ‘It places importance on learning from a young age’, and ‘There is a huge commitment and desire for children to do well’.”

The only negative observations were that a minority of parents had raised concerns about the effectiveness of the communication between the school and themselves and the inspectors thought that opportunities to apply writing skills in lessons other than literacy are less well promoted.

Mr Wigley welcomed the report.

He said: “We’re very, very pleased, particularly in terms of the foundation stage.

“We regard the provision as being very, very good here and we feel that the support of parents and the children themselves lend the school to being a very pleasant place to be."

Inspector’s calls

What was praised: The foundation stage, the teaching of healthy lifestyles, student attainment, the behaviour and attendance of pupils and the leadership of the school.

What needs to be improved: More opportunities for children to practise their writing skills.