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19
Nov 2022
A village school in Nidderdale continues to be 'good', following the latest visit from Ofsted inspectors.
Birstwith C of E Primary School has maintained the ranking since 2012 and now receives "ungraded inspections" from Ofsted to ensure its standards remain high.
In its latest report, published this week, inspectors said the school had strong links with parents and pupils were "excited" about coming to school. They said:
The report praised headteacher Victoria Kirkman, who led a curriculum review before joining the school in September 2021. Inspectors said this enabled her to "hit the ground running" and that the curriculum was well-established, even where new subject leaders had recently joined the school.
However, they said in some areas the curriculum was not ambitious enough and some opportunities were missed to build on pupils' knowledge and ensure learning met the needs of all pupils.
Responding to the report, Miss Kirkman said:
Birstwith school is partnered with Admiral Long C of E Primary School in Burnt Yates.
Miss Kirkman was also appointed executive headteacher at the three federated primary schools in Ripley, Beckwithshaw and Kettlesing earlier this year.
Ripley and Beckwithshaw received 'inadequate' ratings from Ofsted at the beginning of the year and Miss Kirkman said there had been "significant and rapid, positive improvements" to both, with the results of an interim Ofsted inspection due to be published soon.
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