Carlton Primary School pupils’ care and guidance ‘outstanding’
Inspectors’ warm words for school where English is second language for many youngsters
Published: 18 March 2010
by JOSIE HINTON
A KENTISH Town primary school has been praised for the “outstanding care and guidance” it offers pupils and their families.
Ofsted inspectors found that the “safeguarding procedures” and “promotion of community cohesion” at Carlton Primary School, in Grafton Road, were also outstanding when they visited in January.
They rated the school’s overall achievement “good”, and cited key areas, including students’ behaviour and the school’s engagement with parents and carers, where standards were “outstanding”.
The inspectors’ report said: “Teachers know their pupils extremely well, relationships between adults and pupils are positive and the wide variety of learning needs are well met. Pupils enjoy school and this is shown in their good behaviour and good social, moral, spiritual and cultural development.”
Headteacher Jacquie Phelan was praised for her “relentless commitment to raising standards” which inspectors found to be clearly communicated and understood by staff.
The overall quality of teaching was found to be good throughout the school, although inspectors did comment that in some lessons there could be more challenge for the most able pupils.
The curriculum was deemed to be well matched to the needs of the pupils – especially for those with special educational needs or disabilities or those with little or no English.
Inspectors also praised the range of activities, which include twinning projects with schools in Germany and Iceland, themed weeks and extracurricular clubs including drama, home languages, philosophy and sport.
Carlton Primary has a high proportion of pupils who speak English as a second language as well as pupils in the early stages of learning English. The school has an above average proportion of pupils with special educational needs and the majority of pupils are eligible for free school meals.
Cllr Andrew Mennear, Camden’s Education chief, said: “Everyone at Carlton has worked extremely hard since the last inspection to make significant improvements and that hard work is paying off. The atmosphere at the school is a happy one and I would like to congratulate both staff and governors.”