Well-behaved pupils at 'good' Nottinghamshire infant school

Westwood Infant and Nursery School has been rated good following a visit by a team from education watchdog Ofsted.

However, in their newly published report, the inspectors did raise concerns that “standards may be declining”.

Lizzy Woodcock, headteacher of the Palmerston Street school, said she was “pleased” with the result and confident the work the school was doing would improve standards going forward.

She said: “We’re pleased we’re still a good school.

“It’s been quite a difficult time for us with staffing and Ofsted changes. so we’re quite pleased with the result.”

Praising the hard work of staff and support of parents, Miss Woodcock said: “I think everything we’re doing is to improve the school, so I have no doubt that when the inspectors come back we’ll be remaining good – and we’re working towards outstanding.”

The report describes the small school, which has just 64 pupils, aged three to seven, registered, as “welcoming and caring” and said pupils are safe and happy.

It says: “The school has recently experienced some disruption to staffing.

“The new headteacher has worked hard to stabilise this. She has a high ambition for pupils.

“She works with staff to raise the expectations of what pupils can achieve.

“However, the quality of education that pupils receive in some subjects is not good enough.”

The inspectors also raised concerns about the help for pupils with special educational needs and that staff were not trained enough in phonics.

However, they said safeguarding was effective, pupils behave well, “children in the early years make a good start to school” and leaders work hard to improve pupils’ wider development with activities such as Bollywood dance workshops and African drumming lessons.

They also praised Miss Woodcock, who was appointed at Easter last year, as “resilient and dedicated”. They said: “She makes sure staff are valued and have a manageable workload”.

Miss Woodcock said: “The main focus was the welfare of pupils and they feel happy and safe and that’s what you want for your children – that’s the main priority of staff and parents.”