Rotherham school smashes improvement target

Ofsted slammed the standard of teaching at Ferham Primary School in April last year, saying it was inadequate.

The school was given two years to improve and it has achieved the target in half the time thanks to a link with a neighbouring top-rated school, Thornhill Primary.

Executive head teacher Amanda Benton, who was brought in to oversee the partnership, designed to help the schools share best practice, said that she was delighted with the school’s improvement.

“The team here at Ferham are highly effective and believe that every child deserves an excellent education,” she said.

Ofsted inspector Honoree Gordon said: “Ferham Primary has improved significantly in a short space of time.

“The pace of change has been driven very effectively by the executive head teacher and her team. At its last full inspection, the overall effectiveness of the school was inadequate.”

She added: “There is a harmonious working atmosphere, with pupils eager to learn and participate in lessons"

The 230-pupil Ferham Road school has 23 languages and cultures represented.

The proportion of pupils learning English as an additional language is five times the national average.

Ms Gordon said: “The attainment of pupils new to the school who are at an early stage of learning English is low.

“A legacy of weaker teaching in the recent past means that pupils have to catch up to where they should be.

“The school has put good support in place to help these pupils develop the language skills they will need to be able to succeed in the future.”