Mansfield school's joy at 'good' mark

Intake Farm has been rated good in all categories following the visit by inspectors from education watchdog Ofsted.

In their newly published report, inspectors hailed improvements to the curriculum and pupils’ personal development and achievement among their key findings, describing the Armstrong Road school as a “well-ordered and busy place where good teaching and pupils’ good behaviour flourish”.

Julian Fieldwick, headteacher, said: “We’re delighted, it’s fantastic.

“We’ve got a good team together and fantastic children who work extremely hard and have really good attitutes, willing to put 100 per cent in everything they do.

“We have got a very cohesive team who are working on the same page.

“The report is a very fair reflection of where the school is today.”

The inspectors also hailed the “good progress” of children in the early years, thanks to “good teaching”, and said “pupils say they feel safe and enjoy their learning”.

Mr Fieldwick hailed the performance of both staff and pupils during the “stressful” two-day inspection in January.

He said: “It is stressful, you can’t get away from that, but the pupils shone, as they always do.”

The school, which has 234 pupils aged three to 11 on roll, has been challenged to raise pupils’ achievement further and to strengthen its leadership and management if it wants to become an outstanding school.

Challenges including “using a wider range of methods to gather parents’ views”, expecting “pupils of all abilities to develop their mathematical reasoning”, and encouraging “accurate spelling and well-formed handwriting in line with the school’s handwriting policy”.

Mr Fieldwick, who has been at the school for 18 years and headteacher for the past three-and-a-half, said: “We’re taking the report very seriously.

“The inspectors gave us some wonderful accolades and positive feedback, but also some very clear pointers for the future which we’re going to address straight away.”