St Monica Primary School in Southampton has been praised for a second consecutive year by a national education charity which shares leading practice in classrooms.

Challenge Partners, an organisation encouraging schools to work together to make educational improvements, carried out the quality assurance review at the school’s request.

Challenge Partners stated that leadership was ‘effective at all levels, including in the quality of provision and outcomes for pupils.

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The report read: “As a result of the improved provision created by leaders and teachers across the school, academic outcomes are continuing to rise at St Monica.

“In 2023, pupils at the end of Key Stage 2 made significantly more progress in reading, writing and mathematics than their peers did nationally.”

The review differs to Ofsted because it is developmental rather than judgmental,

St Monica, which has 375 pupils, is part of Inspire Learning Partnership, which oversees a number of schools across Southampton and the Waterside.