THE headteacher of an Oxfordshire primary school in special measures has welcomed a report showing improvements at the school.

Joan Morters, headteacher at Wheatley Primary School, believes the school could now come out of special measures by the autumn – two years after the sanctions started.

The school was judged inadequate in November 2010. The governing body was removed and replaced with a new, interim executive board in September 2011 – a measure only taken three times before in Oxfordshire County Council’s history.

A visit from Ofsted inspectors at the end of January showed good progress since the last monitoring inspection in November, the first time the school had received a rating better than satisfactory since being judged inadequate.

Ms Morters said: “We were on the right track and were moving forward, but this time we took a bigger step in a really short period of time.”

In the report, inspector Jonathan Palk said the quality of learning and progress had improved, gaps in attainment were being closed and children reported they were enjoying learning more.

He put the improvements down to better teaching.

Mr Palk added: “There are clear signs that the actions taken by school leaders and managers last term have had the intended results.”

Wheatley Primary has formed a partnership with Pegasus Primary School in Blackbird Leys, Oxford, and implemented a new, creative curriculum, introducing storytelling as a way of developing writing skills.

Ms Morters said: “It’s having a very positive impact on children’s engagement with writing.

“It is a case of keeping the momentum going and ensuring quality stays as high as it is.”

“It is a more vibrant place, children have always achieved well but I think when we come out of special measures, it will be a good school as opposed to a satisfactory school. We have made progress and everything is energised.”

When the school went into special measures, it was told it needed to rapidly accelerate rates of progress and raise attainment more consistently, and to ensure the headteacher, senior staff and middle managers demonstrated clarity, purpose, vision and ambition to secure improvement across the school.

Before the school can be removed from special measures, a shadow governing body must be set up to run alongside the interim board, ready to take over.