A CITY junior school has been told it is "good" by Government inspectors – only 12 months after it was reported to be "inadequate" and placed in special measures.
But Paula Martin, head teacher of Ravensdale Junior School, is not surprised that the school is now on its way to being "outstanding".
She sent an official complaint to the Office for Standards in Education after the 2012 inspection because she felt they had got their grading wrong.
It was the second time in four years that the school in Mickleover had been told it was failing to give children an acceptable standard of education.
Mrs Martin based her complaint on the fact that the inspection in 2012 was a year earlier than normal, pupil achievement data was out-of-date and from 2010 when the school was previously in special measures and more recent improved data appeared to be "ignored".
Despite the complaint, the school remained in special measures and received two monitoring inspections in December and March before being given a clean bill of health a couple of weeks ago.
Mrs Martin said she was delighted the 308-pupil school was out of special measures and had been told it was now "good" and was making "rapid improvements.''
She said: "I knew the school should not have been in special measures all along because our results had improved too much in 2011 and 2012 for that to be accurate.
"Now we are aiming to be 'outstanding' across the board after being told we have outstanding qualities in some areas, such as pupils' spiritual, moral, social and cultural development, with some 'outstanding' teaching."
The newly-published report praises Mrs Martin for her "outstanding commitment to improving the quality of teaching and pupils' achievement".
She is said to be a "visible presence" around the Mickleover school and the inspectors said the pupils enjoy "talking to her and sharing their news".
Staff at the school who responded to the inspectors' questionnaire said they were proud to belong to the school and one said: "I relish the lively atmosphere where children always come first".
The report also praises pupil behaviour, saying that bullying is rare, attendance is above average and there have been no exclusions since September 2012. Governors are applauded for their good management overview.
According to the inspectors, the school needs to have more "outstanding" teaching and the leaders of subjects other than maths and English need to improve the quality of pupils' learning experience.
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