Nailsea School re-awarded quality status for excellence

NAILSEA School has been re-awarded its Quality Mark Status for the excellence of teaching, learning and leadership, particularly in the delivery of 'basic skills' to all students.

Assessor Ian Gyllenspetz from the Alliance of Lifelong Learning, which works with local authorities, schools, local communities and other organisations to develop, support and celebrate good practice in literacy, language and numeracy for children, young people and adults, visited the £32 million school in January.

He said: "The school is very successful in supporting the development of literacy, numeracy and ICT and has used the time since the awarding of Quality Mark in 2006 to make significant changes that have had a positive impact on standards, teaching and learning.

Talking about school leadership he said: "By involving staff, governors and students in this process there is a greater sense of ownership of and commitment to this vision.

"The school improvement plan reflects this chance with a major focus on improving learning.

"Monitoring and evaluating is rigorous, the governors playing their part as a critical friend."

Staff were described as having a "'can do' but realistic approach with students giving them confidence," and Mr Gyllenspetz said students were a credit to the school and that they "love this place."

He also complimented the new building but said that he did not want that to detract from the hard work which is making Nailsea a successful school.

The report said: "A significant part of focus learning has been to provide stimulating environment that matches the vision.

"I left this until last as this wonderful new school building can tend to dominate thoughts on the tour and I did not want the hard work of the school to be lost in the admiration for the building.

"Make no mistake it has made a significant difference but only because the leadership has ensured that learning led its development not vice versa.

"It provided a new starting point for learning for this community.

"The head's input at the design stage cannot be underestimated."

Deputy head teacher Gill Kelly said she was overwhelmed by the "positive comments" made.

She said: "To hear an ex Ofsted inspector say 'This is what education should be like for all children in the country' is the highest accolade any school could receive."