A TOP performing primary school was left baffled after Ofsted said it required improvement following an inspection in October.

St Catherine’s Catholic Primary School, in Stratton, snatched third place in the league tables published last Friday after 90 per cent of their year 6 pupils achieved a Level 4B or above in their reading and maths tests and a level 4 or above in their writing tests.

The benchmark is an indicator of 11-year-olds’ readiness for secondary school, and St Catherine’s results set them well above the national average of 67 per cent.

But in their latest inspection report published yesterday the education watchdog said the school needed to make improvements, including in children’s learning progress, their achievement expectations, and the accuracy of data monitoring.

St Catherine’s executive headteacher, Clare-Marie Burchall, said: “I am disappointed with the recent Ofsted judgment made about St Catherine’s, especially because this is clearly an improving school, which is acknowledged in the report when it stated that over the past two years ‘standards in national tests have risen year on year.’ “It baffles me that St Catherine’s can have 90 per cent of its pupils leaving for secondary school having achieved Level 4B and above in reading and Maths and level 4 in writing and still receive the overall judgement ‘requires improvement.’ “The report has many positives, notably behaviour and safety judged as good, as well as the good attitudes to learning which pupils display.

“Other positives are the challenge given to most able pupils, the good progress made by pupils with additional needs and the good relationships with parents.

“On the same two days Ofsted came the school also underwent a two-day Diocesan inspection in which it was judged as good in every category.

“Ofsted were completely data-driven which is reflected in the report, whereas the Diocesan Report reflected a whole school working together to improve their learning.

“The report cites inconsistencies in progress across some year groups, a fact we are aware of and are working hard to improve.

“This is acknowledged in the report which said ‘all leaders, including middle leaders are working to address the inconsistencies.’”

Although Ofsted were impressed with how happy the children were, and noted that results have improved since the appointment of the executive headteacher, and the positive relationships between the school and parents, they made numerous recommendations to make the school good.

Inspectors said in the report: “Leadership and management require improvement because over time not enough has been done to secure consistently good progress throughout the school.

“Although there have been recent improvements, teaching has not been consistently good over time.

“The progress within year groups of disadvantaged pupils when compared to their classmates is inconsistent and gaps are not closing rapidly enough.

“Because of the intensive support provided by teachers at the end of each key stage, pupils tend to catch up on previous fluctuations in progress.”

To read the results of the Ofsted report visit: reports.ofsted.gov.uk/ inspection-reports/find-inspection-report/provider/ELS/138619.