PUPILS are achieving better marks at The Grange Junior School according to an education inspector – six months after the school was told to improve.

The Stratton St Margaret school was told by Ofsted back in March that it needed to raise its expectations of what pupils can attain as well as make children be more self-reliant in hope to improving their behaviour.

But in a letter to executive headteacher Louise Seavill, which was published on Monday, inspector Steve Smith said during a recent visit, he was glad to see that the school was taking measures to address some of the concerns from Ofsted.

He said: “You are leading the school with drive and enthusiasm. The school is steadily improving and you and other staff are drawing strength from your achievements.

“At the same time, however, you are clear about the work that has yet to be done to improve school outcomes. You have no illusions about the challenges that lie ahead to move the school to good. You take an honest and frank view of weaknesses so that they can be quickly and effectively tackled.

"You, the head of school and other staff are keen to ‘get stuck into’ those areas that require improvement, and weaknesses are being addressed quickly.”

Since the last inspection, the senior leadership team has been restructured which the letter says has clarified to staff lines of accountability with teachers and assistants more confident in their role at the school.

However, despite the high praise, Grange Junior School was also told it needed to take further action to “raise expectations of pupils, particularly the most able” through better use of assessments.

In the letter, Mr Smith, who made the visit on behalf of Her Majesty’s Chief Inspector of Education, Children’s Services and Skills at the start of October, added it was vital that all pupils are achieving their best.

He said: “Although pupils are well behaved, cooperative and attentive, they are not yet demonstrating the inquisitiveness and enthusiasm indicative of highly positive attitudes to learning. This is particularly true of the most able pupils because teachers do not have high enough expectations of what they can achieve.”

Mrs Seavill said: “We are pleased with the outcome of our monitoring inspection and that the actions that we have put in place are beginning to have a positive impact on the children’s learning.

"We are all striving to take the school forward and become a good school.”