Pupils and staff celebrate as Kimberley school rated 'good' by inspectors

Gilthill Primary School was rated as ‘good’ in all areas after Ofsted inspectors visited in September.

Key statements from the recently-published report describe pupils as ‘kind, caring and inclusive of each other’, as well as being ‘well behaved and polite’.

The report also adds a lot of praise for staff.

It reads: “Staff model the kindness and respect they expect the pupils to show. Pupils say that they feel safe. They enjoy attending the school.

“Relationships between staff and pupils are very positive. Pupils know the staff will look after them and help them to learn.”

Overall, the school was deemed to deliver a ‘well-planned programme’, with a keenness to promote inclusion and respect, and all pupils benefiting from a lot of support on their educational journey.

Head teacher Nicky Allison said: “We are so incredibly proud of our whole school community.

“From our hardworking governors to our caring and supportive parents, but especially our dedicated staff team who work tirelessly to ensure every child at Gilthill can thrive in an environment of warmth and support.

“We were particularly proud that inspectors recognised that Gilthill Primary School ‘feels like family’ as this is integral to the aims and ethos of our school.

“The inspection process was rigorous and we were delighted to showcase our school, from our curriculum development journey to our personal development, behaviour and ethos.

“The children behaved impeccably and as always, they were proud to wear their Gilthill badge, showing inspectors how Ready, Respectful and Safe they always are.”

The school’s chair of governors, Cath Barker, added: “What the report does not say is that there were some areas of the school that the inspectors felt were particularly strong and almost achieved the highest grade of outstanding.

“This was fed back to the school leadership team during the meeting at the end of the inspection and is obviously something to be very proud of. These areas of particular strength are behaviour and attitudes, safeguarding and early years provision.”

To read the full report, click here.