Riverside Middle School, which teaches 440 pupils aged nine to 13, was deemed satisfactory in a report issued by Government inspector John
Mitcheson, following visits on March 4 and 5.

The report highlighted many of the school's strengths, such as its good curriculum and care of pupils, but also flagged-up inconsistencies in the quality of teaching and its monitoring of pupils' progress.

Caroline Yates, headteacher, said her team would be taking on the called-for improvements, but was happy that the inspector had found so many good points about the school.

Pupils enjoy going to school and behave well, said the report. It was also congratulated for being an inclusive place, where all children, including those from ethnic minorities or with disabilities, worked well together.

More praise was given for the good standards of maths achieved by school leavers, but the report asked for more focus on the school's younger pupils, who perform below average in national maths tests.

The report also called for improvements in the consistency of teaching, which it said ranged from 'outstanding to inadequate'.

It said: "Some lessons lack pace, offer a limited choice of activities and require pupils to sit and listen to the teacher for too long."

An 'excellent' range of enrichment activities was mentioned in the report and pupils' artwork was described as 'exemplary'.

Changes to the ways pupil progress is monitored should also be made, which the report said were 'underdeveloped'.

Miss Yates said work was already under way to rectify the problem.

She said: "We're conducting assessment for learning, which is us working with the children, looking at their work and asking them to do a
self-assessment.

"We want them to think about what they're doing well and what they can do better and we're getting their peers to give feedback to one another."

April 18, 2008