Islington’s Sacred Heart Primary School has passed its latest Ofsted inspection with flying colours.
The Holloway school was judged to be ‘outstanding’ in every category, with praise particularly heaped on pupil achievement and leadership skills among staff.
Inspectors described how staff at Sacred Heart set high expectations for their children, which are consistently met, with academic achievement at the school ‘above the national average.’ Teachers ensure that the individual needs of each child are addressed and they have ‘outstanding relationships’ with pupils, helping them to perform to the best of their ability.
The proportion of pupils who speak English as an additional language at Sacred Heart is very high, with 29 different home languages spoken amongst the 356 pupils. The school has a very successful system in place to help these children with their learning, which impressed Ofsted. This includes workshops for parents in phonics and writing so they can help support their children at home.
The leadership of headteacher John Lane was praised in the Ofsted report, along with the ‘outstanding support from the deputy and assistant headteachers’ at Sacred Heart. John Lane said:
“Everyone connected with Sacred Heart is very proud of this tremendous achievement. This recognition is just reward for the dedicated efforts and hard work of all the children, staff, parents and governing body.”
Pupils at Sacred Heart clearly enjoy coming to school. Ofsted reported that their ‘personal development is outstanding: they love school and respond exceptionally well to all that the school has to offer.’ The children have good relationships with each other and ‘pupils greatly enjoy the cultural diversity’ of the school.
Islington Council’s Executive Member for Children and Young People, Councillor Paula Belford, said:
“This is a fantastic achievement for Sacred Heart so congratulations to all the staff, pupils and governors involved. Ofsted have quite rightly highlighted many of the special aspects of the school that make it so successful. Islington primary schools are making excellent progress, and Sacred Heart is the fourth to be rated as ‘outstanding’ in the last six months.”
Parents at Sacred Heart were also keen to praise the education and care that their children receive. One parent told Ofsted '"I could not dream of a better school for my son"', whilst another commented '"This is a fantastic school, with a super team of teachers who make sure the pupils have the very best education."'
Sacred Heart was last inspected in 2006 when it was rated as ‘good’. Ofsted described the school’s improvement during this period as ‘outstanding’ and felt that the school is well placed to improve even further in the future.
ENDS.
Page Last Updated: 24 June 2009