Senior leaders at a primary school in the Lowestoft area have said an 'exciting time' lies ahead as they continue to strive to make further improvements.

With Grove Primary School, in Carlton Colville, rated as inadequate following its assessment by the education watchdog Ofsted in March last year, the school has now received positive feedback after its first monitoring inspection.

The school's executive headteacher Rae Aldous, senior leaders, staff and representatives from the Active Learning Trust met with Ofsted last month to determine the school's current strengths and challenges.

Mrs Aldous, executive headteacher at the school in Framfield Road, said: 'I am so pleased with the feedback from the Ofsted monitoring inspection. It is great to see that our recent changes and hard work has produced encouraging results for our school.

'I'm looking forward to continuing our improvement journey as we strive to further improve standards and expectations to make our school one that the community can be proud of.

'I'm particularly pleased that the inspector's comments echoed the judgments made by myself and the new leadership team, and commended the school on developing its leadership and improving outcomes for our children.

'It is an exciting time for Grove Primary School as we continue to address our areas of development over the coming weeks and months.'

After the monitoring visit last month, Kim Hall, inspector said: 'The trust has acted swiftly and robustly to strengthen and develop the current senior leadership structure and ensure that the school is supported and challenged to improve.'

The report added that the governing body 'has significantly changed and strengthened' with the trust joining two schools together to both be led by headteacher, Rae Aldous, who was praised for quickly establishing 'a strong leadership team with clear roles and responsibilities.'

This in turn, the inspector said, has improved the quality and speed of improvement at Grove Primary School.

The inspector said leaders and managers are taking 'effective actions towards the removal of the serious weaknesses designation,' and the school should take further action to improve leadership and management further.

Reaction

Gary Peile, Chief Executive of the Active Learning Trust, said: 'We are so pleased to see Grove Primary School receive the recognition it deserves.

'Rae and her excellent team have been working tirelessly to ensure the pupils of the school have the best education and care possible.

'The Active Learning Trust believes that all pupils within our schools have the right to an excellent education and we will continue to support the Grove Primary School in its improvement journey.'

With the monitoring inspector highlighting the positive changes that have been made across the school regarding the Governing Body, senior leadership team, staff and professional development provision.

The Ofsted inspector also praised the successful recruitment of suitable teaching staff for the next academic year and said that staff were thankful for the professional development and training now on offer.