SCHOOLS in the Westbury area have been praised recently for the improvements made in recent years, which have seen four schools recover from Ofsted monitoring measures.
This year Westbury Junior School, Westbury Leigh Primary and Matravers have all been awarded ‘Good’ Ofsted ratings, following years of being monitored following sub-par reports.
Dilton Marsh Primary and Bitham Brook, have also been rated highly in the past two years, receiving ‘Outstanding’ and ‘Good’ scores respectively.
Chapmanslade received a ‘Good’ rating in 2011, and Bratton in 2012.
Matravers School also recently came runner-up at the Education Business Awards in the ‘Outstanding Progress – Secondary School’ category to further underline the progress being made at the school (see full story on page 8). The awards are presented to the UK Secondary Schools that have made outstanding progress and can demonstrate an increase in the educational performance of the school.
The report praised the headteacher, Dr Riding, for his ‘outstanding leadership’, the quality of teaching throughout the school, and on students’ behaviour and progress.
Town councillor Ian Cunningham is a governor at two primary schools in Westbury, and is thrilled with the progress being made locally.
And local MP Andrew Murrison has also praised the “encouraging news from Ofsted on the performance of schools locally.”
Cllr Cunningham said, “This really is something to celebrate. I firmly believe that education represents one the better opportunities for improvements in our town.
“It has been my privilege as a governor and through contacts via other groups to see first-hand how many hardworking and dedicated people strive every day to do their best for our children and instil in them a sense of self-belief and a desire to be the best they can.
“Too often, I feel that Westbury misses out on opportunities but in education we are doing very well indeed and I would encourage everybody in our town to support and celebrate our schools.”
Councillor Cunningham’s full comments are on our Letters page on page 17.
Local MP Andrew Murrison has received “encouraging news from Ofsted on the performance of schools locally.
“The school inspectors judged 89% of schools across the age range to be good or outstanding as at 31 May 2015 against the English average of 83%,” he said.
There are approximately 3,000 school-age children and young people in the Westbury area, many of whom attend one of the six mainstream primary schools and one secondary, Matravers.
Ofsted reports for individual schools can be viewed online at www.reports.ofsted.gov.uk
