LYDEARD St Lawrence Primary School is taking significant steps towards a successful future according to Ofsted, despite still being graded inadequate.

The school joined the trust after a difficult period and an Ofsted inspection in 2021 which found serious weaknesses.

The Ofsted monitoring visit in June was carried out by Her Majesty’s Inspector Marie Thomas and her report has just been published.

She said that although the school was still judged to be inadequate overall, its leaders and governors were taking effective action towards the removal of the “serious weaknesses” designation and their improvement plan was fit for purpose.

Improvements began as soon as interim headteacher Janine Donovan arrived in January and a return visit by Ofsted in June found considerable progress had been made in stabilising the school.

Now, as part of BWMAT, Lydeard St Lawrence school is in a strong position to move forward, Miss Donovan believes.

“We are so pleased to have joined the trust, which puts children at the heart of all that it does. Colleagues at BWMAT have worked intensely with us to enable our school to move smoothly into the trust and our staff feel incredibly supported and confident in the future of the school,” she said.

The Ofsted report added: “Leaders have crafted an improvement plan that ensures the school community concentrates on the right areas for development.

"The plan sets out clearly in small, achievable steps what must be done to bring out the necessary changes. Leaders understand there is still much to do to get the school, including the quality of education, to where it needs to be.

"However, they are taking the right steps to build staff confidence and knowledge effectively to secure the required improvements,” the report said.

Ms Thomas said priority had rightly been given to safeguarding improvements, with leaders showing “focused determination” to introduce better systems and processes, record-keeping, training and leadership.

Behaviour was another area that had seen swift progress, thanks to the introduction of raised staff expectations, consistent policy and procedures, and new play equipment for break times.

“The school environment is calm and orderly. Staff know the pupils well,” the report said.

“Improved identification of individual pupil’s needs and clear communication among staff mean appropriate support is increasingly put in place for pupils swiftly.”

Nikki Edwards, chief executive of Bath & Wells Multi Academy Trust, said: “We are delighted to welcome Lydeard St Lawrence into our family of more than 30 schools.

"The school has already shown it has much to contribute and in turn it will benefit from the skills, expertise and experience of our central team as it continues its journey of improvement.”