Bradford Primary School Praised for Improvement

By Daniel Lynch

Bradford Moor Primary School has been commended for its rapid progress just five months after being placed in "special measures".

The school was criticized by an Oftsed  report from February but has since undergone significant changes at boardroom and classroom levels.

June's followup report, carried out by HMI (Her Majesty's Inspector) Katrina Gueli, found that the standard of teaching had improved while the City Council's decision to replace the Governing Body with an Interim Executive Board was praised.

Head Teacher, Janet Relton, told BCB the original report didn't come as a surprise to the school or local authorities.

"The report reflected where we knew the school was. We had already started work to make improvements."

Changes have been made to the structure of the school day and staff training was introduced to ensure pupils were being effectively assessed.

Mrs Relton hopes the improvements will not only influence the children's immediate learning, but their long term development.

"What we are trying to do is get the children to take ownership of their learning so that they are involved and engaged and ensure that we are teaching things that are not just relevant to the children but relevant to their futures as citizens and as people who work."

While the school is pleased with the recent Ofsted report which recognizes the progress made, they are aware that further improvements are needed and development of learning and play facilities are planned for the summer break.

"We believe that our school will rapidly become a good school and we are very pleased that the Ofsted and HMI report recognizes that the progress has already started."