THE inspection of a ‘good’ school in Stockton Heath left potential for a lower grading on its next visit by education watchdogs.

St Thomas CofE Primary School had an ungraded inspection this year, its most recent visit from Ofsted in five years.

However, inspectors did not seem as impressed as they did when they graded the school good back in 2018.

An official report stated that while the overall judgement remains the same ‘the evidence gathered suggests that the inspection grade might not be as high if a graded (section 5) inspection were carried out now’.

Issues raised in the report included pupils in earlier years not receiving the support they need to learn to read, meaning that those who struggle ‘do not catch up quickly’.

As well as teachers approach to reading being ‘inconsistent’ across early years and key stage 1.

“Teachers do not follow the school’s intended curriculum well enough,” an inspector said.

“This means that pupils do not build their understanding of letters and sounds systematically. Pupils who have gaps in their reading knowledge do not catch up quickly.

“This is because the reading books that teachers provide for pupils to practise their reading are not accurately matched to the sounds that they know. As a result, pupils do not become fluent readers quickly enough.”

While it did praise the school for having identified the ‘important knowledge that pupils should acquire’ it did point out that in some subjects ‘it has not thought carefully enough about the order in which this knowledge should be acquired’.

Pupils with SEND are said to achieve well and staff were praised for their knowledge on how to ‘adjust their delivery of the curriculum’.

On another positive note, the inspector added: “Staff are extremely proud and happy to work at the school. They feel a real sense of teamwork.

“Staff appreciate that the school has reviewed the use of assessment and marking to reduce unnecessary workload.”