Southminster Primary School 'inadequate' says Ofsted report

Southminster Primary School, in Burnham Road, received a follow-up inspection after being rated inadequate in October last year.

The latest monitoring inspection report says “more work is necessary” for improvement.

Before becoming an academy school in November 2013, the school was was judged to require special measures.

Since being an academy, it has been rated as requiring improvement in 2015, inadequate in 2016, requiring improvement in 2018 and inadequate in 2022.

Southminster pupil: a pupil at the school (Image: Southminster Primary School)

In a letter to Becky Fairhead, deputy director of education at the school, Ofsted inspector Nathan Lowe said there had been "considerable changes" in leadership since the previous graded inspection.

The inspector said the right actions have been taken to improve the school and the “culture of the school is changing”.

Mr Lowe said: “The curriculum has been overhauled since the previous inspection.

“Although they are still refining the specific detail in many subjects, the full national curriculum is now being covered.

Primary school: Southminster Church of England Primary School (Image: Google)

“Despite these significant improvements, many pupils have substantial gaps in their knowledge due to the weak curriculum learned previously.

“Some pupils cannot read fluently and therefore do not fully understand what they are reading. Leaders are, however, designing a curriculum to address these issues.”

Miss Fairhead said: “The most recent monitoring inspection at Southminster Church of England Primary School has shown major improvements following its Ofsted rating from October of last year.

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“Several measures have been put into place following the inspection, including the implementation of a new safeguarding provision which inspectors noted has “swiftly addressed and significantly improved” their former concerns.

“Reading is being prioritised and staff have rewritten their teaching modules to ensure that the full National Curriculum is being covered.

“I’d like to thank all of our committed staff who have worked tirelessly with myself and the trust to make such significant improvements already. We will continue to work hard as a school to continue our journey of improvement.”