Headteacher pledges 'rapid progress' after Sheffield school has poor inspection

A headteacher has pledged to make 'rapid progress' after school is given a poor rating by inspectors.
Pye Bank C of E Primary School, Andover StreetPye Bank C of E Primary School, Andover Street
Pye Bank C of E Primary School, Andover Street

Pye Bank Church of England Primary, in Burngreave, was judged to require improvement following a visit by inspectors from education watchdog, Ofsted.

Inspectors said, despite recent leadership changes, leaders and governors have not tackled fully all issues found at the time of the previous inspection in 2015.

Headteacher Maureen AndrewsHeadteacher Maureen Andrews
Headteacher Maureen Andrews
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They found that there were inconsistencies in teaching, teachers expectations of pupils are not consistently high and disadvantaged pupils and those who have special educational needs and disabilities are absent from school too often.

The report also said leaders’ evaluation of the school’s performance is not fully accurate and consequently, not all checks on teaching are focused sharply enough on the progress that pupils make and improvement plans do not contain precise measures for leaders to check whether actions are having the expected impact on different groups of pupils’ progress.

But inspectors did find many strengths at the school.

The headteacher, Maureen Andrews, along with leaders have started to improve key aspects of the school's work, including pupils' progress in writing; effective provision in the early years which ensures children have a good start to school and improved attendance.

Headteacher Maureen AndrewsHeadteacher Maureen Andrews
Headteacher Maureen Andrews

Inspectors also praised pupils, who were described as 'polite and well behaved' and who get on well and are 'highly respectful' to one another.

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Mrs Andrews believes the new leadership team can build on current strengths and make rapid progress.

She said: "Although we are disappointed with our report overall, we remain proud of our school, our children and our community here at Pye Bank.

"We feel the judgements within the report are mostly fair and believe with our new leadership team we can build on the current strengths and make rapid progress. Ofsted recognise that the new leadership team are working tirelessly to improve the children’s progress.

"We are thrilled that our values, our children’s behaviour and their attitude to school life and learning shines through. The children here at Pye Bank are fantastic and are very motivated learners. They are respectful to adults and each other and are very enthusiastic about their learning.

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"There are many strengths to celebrate such as behaviour across school, safety and welfare and our early years foundation stage, all of which are judged as good.

"We are proud of our improvements to attendance, which is just above the national average. We receive great support from our parents for attendance.

"The report shows that our curriculum has many strengths, is engaging and captures the imagination of our children.

"We do have some good teaching here at Pye Bank but we acknowledge that we need to be more consistent across school, so our children can achieve more.

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"Our main improvements are linked to securing good and better teaching at all times for children to support rapid progress in learning.

"We are very optimistic about the future here at Pye Bank and embraces the new challenges presented to us from the inspection.”

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