Westbury – Matravers School moving in the right direction, says Ofsted

OFSTED has told Matravers School that it is “doing the right things to improve the school” after its recent inspection graded the school as one that ‘requires improvement.’ 

Ofsted, the official body for inspecting schools, visited Matravers for two days in February. Its report says that appropriate steps have been made to ‘secure notable improvements within a short space of time.’

The report highlights that the behaviour of pupils is one of the school’s strengths, classed as ‘good’ in the report. Inspectors highlighted an “atmosphere of friendliness and tolerance (amongst) students that are courteous to each other, staff and visitors,”  and observed that students have ‘positive attitudes towards learning.’

But the report says that the achievement of pupils, quality of teaching, and leadership and management all ‘require improvement.’ It does, however,  acknowledge that ‘there has not yet been enough time to see the impact of the changes made’ by the senior leadership team.

Overall, the school has been given a grade 3 rating of ‘requires improvement’ (with grade 1 being ‘outstanding’ and grade 4 being ‘inadequate’). The school’s previous inspection gave a grade 3 ‘satisfactory’ rating.

Matravers School said they were delighted that the inspectors identified that they were “doing the right things to improve the school” and securing “notable improvements within a short space of time.”

Headteacher Beverley Martin said, “We were very pleased with the way our Ofsted inspection went and our staff and pupils were a credit to Matravers during the visit. Throughout the report there is evidence of good teaching and learning and it is now a case of building on the improvements already made to secure a successful future for the school”.

Jacqui Goodall, chair of governors, was also complimentary of the school’s achievements.  She said “Governors are pleased with the way that the school has moved forward during the last academic year.  We would like to thank the headteacher, her team and the staff for their continuing dedication and hard work in making Matravers a rapidly improving school”.

A full copy of the Ofsted report is available on the school’s website.