Head's pleasure at Ofsted praise

By katherine newton editor@dorkingadvertiser.co.uk

A HEAD teacher has spoken of his delight after an Ofsted report revealed his school to be safe and enjoyable.

Inspectors who visited the Priory School in Dorking earlier this month praised the students' friendliness, politeness and outstanding behaviour, which they described as a credit to parents and staff.

Headmaster Andre Sohatski said: 'I am delighted that Ofsted recognised that the Priory School is a good school, with many features close to outstanding, and this places us in the top 42 per cent of schools in the country.

"It is also particularly pleasing that the inspectors rated the students' behaviour as 'outstanding'.

"The overall judgement was that the school is a good school with a harmonious learning environment and outstanding behaviour."

The school, which is currently seeking specialist status as a Business and Enterprise with Ethics school, was visited by five inspectors on July 7 and 8.

The inspectors observed 28 lessons and met students, governors and staff as well as looking at school documents and findings from questionnaires returned by students, staff and parents.

Following the visit, the inspectors praised improved results in examinations at both Key Stage 4 and at the end of sixth form.

Among the main findings were that students' achievement is good and most say they enjoy school and feel safe.

However, the inspectors felt it "a pity" that attendance is not better than average, and have asked the school to get tougher at monitoring this, especially for the girls.

The report did however also compliment the wide range of extracurricular activities, support offered to pupils and the curriculum itself.

Janet Hockley, the chairman of governors at the school, said: "It is clear that the school is going from strength to strength."