Arthur Bugler Primary School

Highlights from Latest Inspection

Main findings

Arthur Bugler Infants is a good and rapidly improving school where pupils make good progress and enjoy their education. Parents and carers are extremely supportive and their overwhelmingly positive comments praise the school highly for the education it provides.

One wrote, 'We are very happy with Arthur Bugler Infants school and feel that they really help to develop a child's potential whilst making them feel safe and happy at school.' The highly effective leadership and management of the headteacher and her team have been instrumental in driving through improvement. Their ambition for the school is very evident.

Inspectors judge this to be an outstanding area of the school's work. Self-evalu...ation is highly rigorous in almost all aspects of the school's endeavours. Staff celebrate what the school does well but they are not complacent and have an extremely clear view of what still needs further improvement.

Boys' achievement has risen since the time of the last inspection because fine-tuned tracking systems have ensured any underperformance is picked up early. This is closely linked to an excellent programme of extra support and help which tailors tasks and activities to need most effectively. The quality of teaching has improved dramatically.

This is because of a rigorous system of monitoring which supports and challenges teachers to develop their practice but also holds them to account for the progress their pupils make. As a result, teaching is now consistently good across the school and some is outstanding. Teaching continues to improve in response to the school's systems.

The Early Years Foundation Stage provides a good start to school and has improved greatly since the last inspection. Children make good progress and learn well because : independence is encouraged through a wide range of well-planned activities. Progress throughout the school is accelerating.

These aspects demonstrate the outstanding capacity for further improvement. All areas for improvement from the previous inspection have been tackled highly effectively. The governing body carries out its statutory duties and contributes well to the day to day running of the school.

Its work to engage parents and carers has been particularly good. Although governors promote community cohesion effectively and the action plan has been evaluated, the work the school has done has not yet had a full impact. The action plan has not been re-visited.

As a result this aspect is satisfactory rather than good. Pupils are not yet aware that all schools are not like their own. Awareness of cultural diversity is only just beginning to be developed.

However, parents and carers of differing heritages are invited to come into school and share their experiences. All staff are fully trained in all aspects of child protection which promotes the good well-being, health and safety of the pupils. Every parent and carer who returned their questionnaire stated that the school keeps their children safe.

Pupils behave well, clearly want to learn and evidently enjoy coming to school. They are prepared well for the next stage of their education and develop workplace and other skills. Levels of attendance are above average.

Information about the school

This is a smaller than the average sized infant school. The proportion of pupils known to be eligible for free school meals is much lower than average. The percentage of pupils from minority ethnic groups and the proportion who speak English as an additional language are well below average.

The proportion of pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities is below average but rising from year to year. The needs of these pupils are mostly related to speech and language difficulties and autism. The school has gained Healthy School status.