Pupils thriving in school's warm, family atmosphere

Published on 24th May 2007 in News

Staff and children at Cowick Primary School are celebrating after recently receiving a glowing report from Ofsted.

Cowick Primary School in Snaith Road was judged 'good' in every aspect of the Ofsted report carried out in April, and received praise for being a good school in which children thrive and achieve well.

Ofsted inspector Gillian Salter-Smith found that relationships between staff and pupils are very good and pupils enjoy school, work hard and behave very well in a family atmosphere underpinned by a strong Christian ethos.

In her report, Ms Salter-Smith wrote: "The positive family atmosphere and strong Christian values of this small school underpin pupils' good personal development, and their good spiritual, social and moral awareness.

"Pupils are well prepared for their futures. They learn to work co-operatively and develop problem solving skills through the increasingly varied approaches to learning and through enterprise activities organised by the local specialist high school."

The inspector also found that leadership and management in the the school were good.

The head teacher, Tracey Hawkyard, sets high expectations and provides clear guidance on improvements based on rigorous monitoring. These, together with her warm support of staff and pupils, ensure that they are challenged and enabled to do their best.

Pupils especially enjoy lessons in which they are more actively involved, for example, drama-type activities, and teachers work very effectively with their teaching assistants to ensure that lower attaining pupils and those with learning difficulties or disabilities are well-supported.

Head teacher Tracey Hawkyard said: "I am delighted by our report that judged every area of school life as good. The report recognised the close family education we provide at Cowick and the good standards we therefore achieve.

"This is a warm pat on the back for the children, parents, staff and Governors of our school who work so hard to maintain its high standards."