Elmhurst Primary School is delighted to announce that it has received an ‘Outstanding’ judgement in its recent Ofsted inspection which was carried out in October 2021.
The school has been deemed to be ‘Outstanding’ in every category, including early reading. The report includes the following comments on early reading:
Reading is enjoyed in every classroom and pupils love talking about their favourite books and authors.
The teaching of reading is well established and very effective. The reading leader gives excellent support to staff in the early years and in Years 1 and 2. Pupils make excellent progress in learning phonics. Those who fell behind due to the COVID-19 lockdowns are catching up quickly.
Expectations are high for all pupils. Nursery children are taught reading and number skills that they might normally learn in Reception. As a result, these children access the Reception curriculum at a higher level. This, in turn, supports the transition to Year 1.
Shahed Ahmed, Executive Headteacher of Elmhurst Primary School and CEO of New Vision Trust, “Early reading is the only deep dive that all Ofsted inspections must include. Some schools which were previously Outstanding have lost this grade in their recent Ofsted inspection under the new framework because they have not properly implemented a Systematic Synthetic Phonics scheme with matching decodable books. English Hubs are ideally placed to support schools in implementing an SSP and a Reading for Pleasure culture. The new Ofsted framework is now completely aligned to this as well as to 'The Reading Framework' published by the DfE in July 2021.
It is important that all schools follow this advice so that all our pupils make the best possible start to their reading, especially in view of the gaps in learning caused by the pandemic.”
