Abington Vale Primary School

Highlights from Latest Inspection

Summary of key findings for parents and pupils

This is a good school. The governors and school leadership team are ambitious for the school and, together with the staff, they have built a positive climate for learning, where pupils are able to thrive and learn with confidence.

They have ensured that teaching and achievement are good. Progress has become more consistent. It is good across the school and is improving.

Governors ensure that all available resources are used effectively to ensure that pupils achieve well. Effective deployment of pupil premium funding and the primary sports funding ensures that pupils, including the disadvantaged, are able to reach their potential. Pupils feel very safe in schoo...l.

Parents and carers have great confidence in the school to keep their children safe. Children in the Reception Year have an outstanding start to their schooling and make excellent progress. Pupils have very positive attitudes to learning and talk enthusiastically about their lessons.

Their behaviour is exemplary. They show respect for each other and are always ready and willing to help each other learn. The imaginative curriculum ensures that pupils are able to develop their literacy and numeracy, as well as the skills they need to lead a full life in modern Britain.

Attainment is above average in writing and mathematics and standards in reading are rising. Attendance has improved and is now above national averages. Standards in phonics (how sounds in words are represented by different letters) have improved considerably.

It is not yet an outstanding school because : Progress in reading, although improving, is not as strong as in mathematics and writing. The quality of support offered by some teaching assistants is not consistent. As a result, pupils are not always able to progress as well as they could.

Teachers' comments in pupils' books are not always sufficiently clear and detailed to help pupils improve their work. In some lessons, work is not always at the right level of difficulty for all pupils, so some find tasks too easy or too hard. As a result, they are not always able to make good progress.

Information about this school

Abington Vale Primary School is larger than the average primary school. The school is spread across two campuses, Park Campus, which has pupils from the Early Years Foundation Stage to Year 6, and Stirling Campus, which opened in 2012 and currently has pupils in the Early Years Foundation Stage and Year 1. Children in the Early Years Foundation Stage attend school full-time.

The school converted to become an academy in November 2012. Its predecessor, also known as Abington Vale Primary School, was last inspected in June 2011, when it was judged to be outstanding. A new headteacher was appointed in April 2014.

As an academy, Abington Vale is part of the Northampton Primary Academy Trust (NPAT), which is a partnership between five local primary schools and includes Headlands, Lings, Ecton Brook, and Weston Favell. The headteacher sits on the board of the Academy Trust. The large majority of pupils at Abington Vale Primary School come from White British backgrounds.

The proportion of pupils from minority ethnic groups is a little above average. The proportion who speak English as an additional language is average. Seven out of a hundred pupils have disabilities or special educational needs which are supported at school action.

This is close to the national average. Only three out of a hundred pupils are supported at school action plus, or by a statement of special educational needs, which is below average. The proportion of disadvantaged pupils for whom the school receives the pupil premium is below average, at about one in ten.

This is additional government funding for particular groups which, in this school, includes those known to be eligible for free school meals. The school organises a breakfast and after-school club for its pupils, managed by the governing body. The school meets the governments' current floor standards, which set the minimum expectations for the attainment and progress of pupils in reading, writing, and mathematics by the end of Year 6.