'Good' rating for school after inspecton (From Borehamwood Times)

'Good' rating for Shenley Primary School after Ofsted inspection

1:07pm Wednesday 20th March 2013 in News By Anna Slater

The future is bright for a school which was given a glowing report by Ofsted inspectors – but the headteacher said “this is just the start”.

Pupils at Shenley Primary School, in London Road, Radlett, are celebrating after their rating was bumped up from satisfactory to good after February’s inspection.

Headteacher Katy Longley, who joined the school last year, said the success is down to the tough measures she put in place to control the children’s bad behaviour.

She added: “To put it bluntly, the children’s behaviour was very bad when I joined the school so I knew there had to be changes.

“I have managed to turn that around by involving parents, teaching assistants and teachers to build a new behaviour policy with guidelines.

“If they misbehave once they get put on a white cloud and then a yellow cloud – if they continue to disobey they end up on a red cloud, which means they will get expelled.

“The children are clear about what will happen if they do the wrong thing and their behaviour has improved remarkably, I am so proud of them all.”

In her short time at the school, Ms Longley has also “revamped” the curriculum to make learning more fun and exciting for the children, by giving them a choice of topics.

Year three and four pupils have just completed a project on Superheroes and made their own short films showing what they had learnt.

She added: “Seeing the children involved in their own education is great, they are actually engaging now and seem so much more interested in what they are learning.

“The key is to make them interested in what they are learning. Everyone has worked so hard to get the school up to the standard it is now.”

Areas picked out for particular included the “good and sometimes outstanding teaching quality”, and the “above average” English and maths results in year six pupils.

It added: “Pupils attitudes to learning are good. They are very eager to learn and do well and their behaviour in lessons, around the school and on visits and trips is excellent.

“Pupils feel very safe here and their parents agree.” It added the school is not yet ‘outstanding’ – the highest rating – because “there is not enough teaching to lead pupils making exceptional progress.”

Ms Longley added: “This is just the start – we are now aiming to be rated outstanding in the next inspection by making sure the behaviour rules are put in place all the time.

“We want to have more outstanding teaching and will be reviewing our curriculum all the time to make sure it is not out of date.”