St Michael’s Church of England Primary School

Highlights from Latest Inspection

Key findings

This is a good school. Pupils achieve well and gain skills and knowledge that prepare them well for the next stage of their education. The school is not outstanding because some inconsistencies in teaching remain and data are not used as smartly as they could be to ensure that all groups of pupils make equally good progress and to identify any potential underachievement at an early stage.

Pupils make good progress throughout the school. Staff are particularly good at helping the large number of pupils who enter the school at unusual times to settle well and make good progress. There is good support for pupils from service backgrounds and these pupils also achieve well.

Pupils are well taught. ...Teachers ensure that pupils are clear about what they are expected to learn and, in general, pupils work hard to meet this expectation. Lessons are successfully designed to interest pupils.

Although pupils complete good amounts of work, there are occasions in lessons when time is not used to maximum effect. Developments to ensure pupils know how to improve their work are being successful. However the quality of marking remains inconsistent and is rightly the focus of further school improvement work.

Overall, pupils behave well in class and around the school. The safety and well-being of pupils are given high priority and this is successful in ensuring that pupils feel, and are, safe in school. There is a clear shared commitment among staff and governors to ensuring that the school provides well for each individual pupil.

The headteacher provides a clear vision and direction for the school. Performance management is used well to drive up the quality of teaching. Data are used well to ensure that individual pupils are making at least expected progress but the way that the data are being managed at a whole-school level is too complex and time consuming to provide easily accessed information about the performance of different groups.

Information about the school

This much smaller-than-average-sized primary school serves its local area including local military bases and a number of pupils travel to the school daily from further afield. Almost all pupils are of White British heritage. The proportion of pupils known to be eligible for free school meals is below average.

An average percentage of pupils are disabled or have a wide range of special educational needs although more have statements of special educational needs than is usually the case. Pupils' special educational needs include physical disability, speech, language and communication, moderate learning, behaviour, emotional and social, and profound and multiple learning difficulties. The number of pupils who enter or leave the school at other than normal transition times is well above average and a number of these have attended more than one school prior to arriving at St Michael's.

Half of the pupils have parents or carers who are members of the armed forces. Children, including those in the Reception Year, are taught in classes covering two age groups. In 2011, the school did not meet the current government floor standards, which set the minimum expectations for pupils' attainment and progress.