The small South Holland primary school pleasing Ofsted inspectors

Staff in a very small South Holland school work closely as a team and have maintained its “good” standard, inspectors have reported.

A short inspection was made of Shepeau Stow Primary School and a report issued to headteacher Alison Buddle and published last week.

It said: “The leadership team has maintained the good quality of education in the school since the last inspection.
“Leaders promote a strong, caring culture and every pupil is highly valued and known well by you and your staff. Consequently, support for pupils is effective. In this very small school you and your staff work closely as a team. Parents have high regard for the quality of care their children receive. As one parent commented: ‘Staff are very welcoming and helpful, I could not wish for a better school.’”

The Dowsdale Bank school, which had 68 pupils when last inspected in 2012, was advised on three next steps to further improve.

Inspectors said school leaders should ensure there are consistently high expectations for presentation of pupils’ work; pupils in the upper school have more opportunities to practise their problem-solving and reasoning skills in maths and proposed plans to improve tracking of progress of early years pupils are frequent and rigorous so that pupils make faster progress.

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