PUPILS, staff, parents and governors at Butterknowle Primary School are celebrating being rated “good” during a tough Ofsted inspection.
The achievement is made all the more significant because curriculum expectations changed in September 2014, says the school.
Headteacher Tessa Fenoughty said targets in maths and English, in particular, had been made higher.
Despite this Ofsted inspector Michael Reeves praised the improvements at the school that had allowed it to retain its good rating.
He said: “You have provided ambitious, dedicated and sharply focused leadership to drive school improvement. As a result, the school’s learning environment has developed substantially.
“This has improved pupils’ learning in lessons and enriched their opportunities to engage in adventurous play at breaktimes and lunchtimes.
“Along with governors, you have restructured staffing to ensure that it meets pupils’ needs well. At the same time, you have made effective use of available financial resources.”
He added: “In 2017, there were clear improvements to pupils’ progress by the end of year six in mathematics and particularly in reading.”
Mrs Fenoughty said the inspector was meticulous and thorough during his visit.
She added: “He was like a machine. He was very demanding – he wanted to see evidence, he wanted to see impact, he wanted to see progress.
“To retain good is a major achievement. It is something we are really proud of. We believe to make good progress under a new curriculum is a real credit to hard work the teachers, pupils and governors have done.”
![A COUNTY councillor is backing a campaign to get a pedestrian crossing in Staindrop. Frustrated parish councillors in the village summoned their county council representative Cllr George Richardson to their latest meeting to discuss several issues, including the call for a safe way to cross the A688. Earlier this year their request for a crossing was turned down by the county council’s highways officers. Parish council chairman Jonothan Raper described the reasons for the refusal as “spurious” and called on Cllr Richardson to support their campaign. He added: “One of the arguments they made was there is no clear line of desire when they studied the village – well this isn’t a clear line of desire because there isn’t a crossing, people cross whenever they can. “When the lollipop person was there, one of the things I noticed was people would walk all the way down to the lollipop person to cross the road to go to the shop or to go to the school.” He added a problem of parking at the primary school is exacerbated because people are too afraid to walk their children across the road. Cllr Richardson said he had supported previous attempts for a crossing point with the first being made about 15 years ago. He added: “We went fairly well down the road with that and they looked into it. The only recommended place was where the bus stop is and to get the visibility splays, people on the other side of the road would lose their parking. “That didn’t go down well so it just died a death.” Cllr Raper said he suspected the real reason for the officers’ refusal was the cost of installing a crossing. He added that much of the cost could be recovered from savings made on not having to employ a lollipop patrol. Cllr Raper said: “A lollipop person only provides a benefit of crossing for three hours of the day. You are getting 21 extra hours of crossing time [with a pedestrian crossing].” Cllr Richardson said he would raise the issue with the county council’s cabinet member for highways, Cllr John Shuttleworth.](https://teesdalemercury.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/georgeR-120x86.jpg)
