Colden Common Primary School

Highlights from Latest Inspection

Key findings

This is a good school.

It is not outstanding because too few of the pupils who attain highly in reading and mathematics achieve the higher Level 5 in writing at age eleven. Systems for analysing data about pupils' attainment and progress are not sufficiently refined. Pupils achieve well overall.

Children make satisfactory progress in the Early Years Foundation Stage. This accelerates as they move up through the school. Achievement is improving rapidly after the decline of the last two years, especially in mathematics.

Achievement in writing, particularly spelling, is satisfactory, but remains lower than in reading and mathematics. The school is introducing a new system for teaching le...tters and sounds (phonics) to address this. Teaching is good.

It has improved considerably in the last year, but a few inconsistencies remain. Higher attaining pupils are not challenged well enough in writing. Marking does not always provide enough guidance to pupils on how to improve their work and the marking of writing, especially spelling, in subjects other than English is not rigorous enough.

Behaviour and safety are consistently good as are pupils' attitudes to learning. The school is an orderly community where most pupils show respect for each other and adults and know how to stay safe. The new headteacher, supported by the effective governing body and revised senior leadership team, provides strong leadership.

The school has an accurate view of its strengths and weaknesses and uses this information effectively to promote school improvement. Performance management is used well to improve teaching, to support teachers new to the school and develop leadership skills. Rigorous and effective systems are in place to monitor the progress of pupils, but the systems for analysing the data are cumbersome and make it difficult to have an easily accessible picture of overall school performance to compare easily with the national picture.

Information about the school

This school is slightly larger than most primary schools. The large majority of pupils are White British with only a few from other ethnic groups. A very small number of pupils speak English as an additional language.

The proportion of pupils known to be eligible for free school meals is below average. The percentage of pupils who have disabilities or are supported at school action plus or have statements of special educational need is below average. Main areas of need include speech, language and communication and behaviour, social and emotional difficulties.

In the last few years there have been a number of disruptions to staffing through illness and changes of staff. Five teachers, including the headteacher, and three teaching assistants are new to the school this year. The school meets the government's current floor standard which sets the minimum expectations for pupils' attainment and progress.