Bladon Church of England Primary School

Highlights from Latest Inspection

Summary of key findings for parents and pupils

This is a good school Pupils make good progress across the school reaching standards of attainment that are above average in reading, writing and mathematics by the time they leave Year 6. Teaching is good because teachers have high expectations, good subject knowledge and always want pupils to do their best.

The school promotes pupils' spiritual, moral, social and cultural development well and the 'Value Tree' helps pupils learn the importance of being kind and caring to each other. Pupils have an excellent understanding of how to keep themselves and others safe. Governors provide good support and challenge to leaders at the school.

With the ambitious head...teacher, they provide strong leadership and have accurately identified areas for further development and are effectively working to improve them. Behaviour is excellent at all times because pupils work hard and have a great appetite for learning and eagerly apply themselves to their work. The headteacher has embedded systems to regularly check on teaching.

This has ensured the quality of teaching has been sustained and all staff are committed to raising standards. It is not yet an outstanding school because : Teaching is not yet outstanding because adults do not respond quickly enough in lessons to the progress made by individual pupils. As a result, they do not reshape the tasks sufficiently to improve the pace and depth of pupils' learning.

Pupils' attainment in writing in Key Stage 1 is not as good as in mathematics and reading. In part, this is due to the tasks set by teachers not always being difficult enough to challenge the pupils and extend their learning. Although there is some good quality marking, it is not consistent in all classes and not all teachers give pupils enough time to respond to advice given and improve their work.



Information about this school

The school is much smaller than most other primary schools. There are four classes in total. A Reception class, a mixed Years 1 and 2 class, a mixed Years 3 and 4 class and a mixed Years 5 and 6 class.

The proportion of pupils who are eligible for pupil premium funding is lower than the national average. The pupil premium is additional funding for those pupils known to be eligible for free school meals, children that are looked after by the local authority and children of service families. There are no pupils who are looked after by the local authority and no pupils from service families currently at the school.

The proportion of pupils from minority ethnic backgrounds and those who speak English as an additional language is below the national average. The number of pupils supported at school action is in line with the national average. The number of pupils supported at school action plus or who have a statement of special educational needs is below the national average.

The school has breakfast and after-school clubs, which were looked at as part of this inspection. A new headteacher has been appointed since the previous inspection. The school meets the government's current floor standards, which set the minimum expectations for pupils' attainment and progress.