Black Torrington CofE Primary School annnounced last week that Ofsted had rated the school as “requires improvement” following its latest inspection at the end of last year.

Inspectors rated behaviour and attitudes, personal development and leadership and management as “good,” but quality of education as “requires improvement.” They graded the school overall as “requires improvement.”

The report highlighted the good support for children with SEND (special educational needs and disabilities), the “calm and orderly” learning environment and the good extracurricular support to help pupils outside their academic studies. However, inspectors noted that the school did not always implement the curriculum effectively and sometimes did not provide all the support needed to SEND children.

In response to the results, Jo Luxford, headteacher at Black Torrington Primary School, said: “We were happy to see the positives highlighted by Ofsted in the report and the recognition of the ambition we as a school have for our pupils to be happy and successful.

“Whilst we are clear on the continued work that needs to be done to ensure our educational provision is of the very best standard, we remain fully confident in our ability to deliver these improvements and are working tirelessly to achieve this.

“We look forward to continuing to work with the wider trust team and local community to build on the positive feedback and happy learning environment created at Black Torrington and look forward to continuing on our improvement journey.”

This is the first Ofsted inspection since the school’s conversion to an academy and the first since the Covid pandemic.

Ofsted returns to inspect any school graded “requires improvement” sooner than those rated “good” or “outstanding.” Inspectors will therefore return to inspect Black Torrington CofE Primary School again in around 30 months time.

Ofsted is the Office for Standards in Education, Children’s Services and Skills. The non-ministerial department inspects education services and services that care for children and young people to ensure they are providing the right educational and care support.

To read the full Ofsted report, visit https://reports.ofsted.gov.uk.