Red Oak Primary School Lowestoft praised by school minister

Red Oak Primary School has received high praise from Damian Hinds.

In a letter congratulating the school's executive headteacher, Heather Madsen, the minister highlighted the "very high progress" that pupils had demonstrated and "the standard of achievement demonstrated in reading, writing and mathematics Key Stage 2 assessment last year".

It comes after recent figures showed that 90pc of pupils had reached or exceeded the expected standard in reading, writing and mathematics at the end of Key Stage 2 - which puts the school in the top 2pc of primary schools in the country.

Red Oak Primary School children reading in class. Picture: Red Oak Primary School (Image: Red Oak Primary School)

The school on Southwell Road, Kirkley - which is part of The Active Learning Trust - was also commended for its December 2023 progress scores in reading, writing and mathematics.

The results showed that the progress made by pupils between Key Stage 1 and the end of Key Stage 2 puts Red Oak Primary School in the top 5pc of primary schools in the country.

Red Oak Primary School pupils busy reading in class. Picture: Red Oak Primary School (Image: Red Oak Primary School)

In his letter, Mr Hinds said: "The government wants to ensure that every child has the fluency in reading, writing and mathematics necessary to prepare them for a successful secondary education and beyond, which is why I was delighted to see your results."

The minister thanked Mrs Madsen for her work in continuing the drive towards higher academic standards and congratulated her and her staff for their commitment and success.

Mrs Madsen said: "I am delighted that the progress of children here at Red Oak has been acknowledged by the minister for schools.

"It is our ethos to raise aspirations and enable all our children to fulfil their potential and I would like to thank all our staff for their dedication in helping us achieve this success together.

"Despite the school having more than double the national average of Pupil Premium pupils, demonstrating the challenges that families face socio-economically, the results are a testament to our commitment to narrowing the achievement gap and overcoming barriers to learning."

'A very bright future'

Active Learning Trust Chief Executive Officer, Lynsey Holzer, said: "Congratulations to everyone at Red Oak.

"To be within the top five per cent nationally really highlights the strong focus on improvement and achieving success for all which is embodied across the whole school community, and which offers all children at the school a very bright future for their education."

The school, which is currently rated by Ofsted as ‘good’, was also visited for an ungraded monitoring inspection last year, where inspectors have found "enough evidence of improved performance to suggest that the school could be judged ‘outstanding’ if we were to carry out a graded inspection."