Buntingsdale Primary School and Nursery

Highlights from Latest Inspection

Summary of key findings for parents and pupils

This is a good school. School leaders, including governors, have been successful in improving standards and progress. School leaders know the strengths and weaknesses of the school well and use their analyses to make improvements.

There are effective systems for checking the quality of teaching and its impact on pupils' progress. Leaders have quickly identified and dealt with any problems. As a result teaching is good.

Teachers plan lessons that ensure pupils are able to apply their knowledge and skills to real-life problems. This engages their interest and extends their learning. The marking of pupils' work helps them to understand how to improve.

Pu...pils appreciate the comments their teachers make in their books. This is a happy school where pupils behave well, are proud of their school and show positive attitudes to learning. New pupils are made to feel welcome, quickly settle into school and start learning without delay.

The school's work to keep pupils safe is good. Parents appreciate the care and support provided by the school for them and their children. Pupils' spiritual, moral and cultural development is good and they are well prepared for life in modern Britain.

The school makes good use of external support and partnerships to accelerate its own improvement. The effectiveness of the governing body has improved and governors now provide a good balance of support and challenge. Children in the early years make good progress because adults assess their skills carefully and provide well-designed activities to help them develop further.

It is not yet an outstanding school because : Achievement in writing is not as strong as it is in reading and mathematics. Progress in writing slows because pupils lack the experience and confidence to work out how to structure their writing for themselves. Pupils do not use technical language regularly or accurately in some subjects.

In subjects other than English and mathematics, there is not always sufficient challenge for older or the most-able pupils and teachers do not always use assessment in these subjects well enough to form a clear picture of how well individual pupils are achieving.

Information about this school

The school is much smaller than the average-sized primary school. The school converted from an infant school to a primary school in 2012 and there are Key Stage 2 pupils from Years 3, 4 and 5 in school.

There is one class in Key Stage 1 consisting of Year 1 and Year 2 pupils and one class in Key Stage 2 consisting of Year 3, 4 and 5 pupils. There is a full-time early years class in the school comprising of Nursery and Reception children. The large majority of pupils are White British.

The proportion of pupils from minority ethnic groups is smaller than average. At around one in six, the proportion of disadvantaged pupils supported by the pupil premium is average. More than a quarter of pupils are disabled or have special educational needs.

This is an above-average proportion. The numbers of pupils joining and leaving the school partway through their primary school education is higher than is usually the case. This is because the school serves an army base and over half the pupils come from service families who are sometimes posted elsewhere or enter the school partway through a term.