Franche Primary School

Highlights from Latest Inspection

Summary of key findings for parents and pupils

This is a good school. Pupils' progress and attainment have continued to improve in the last three years.

As a result, standards in reading, writing and mathematics have risen from below average to average at the end of Years 2 and 6. The headteacher and governors have acted on the advice in the previous inspection report and built a strong and effective leadership team. Leaders at all levels contribute to improving teaching and raising achievement.

Teachers plan and provide lessons that engage and enthuse pupils so they want to learn and make good progress. The teachers and the highly skilled teaching assistants make excellent use of carefully chosen question...s to make pupils think hard about their work. This is an exceptionally nurturing school.

Behaviour and attitudes are good because pupils feel safe and relationships are positive. In the early years, staff use accurate assessments of children's progress very effectively to match activities precisely to their individual levels. Consequently, children are taught well and make good progress in all the areas of learning.

Staff use a range of successful methods to ensure pupils make rapid progress in learning about phonics (the sounds that letters make). The vast majority reach the required standard by the end of Year 1. The school works closely with parents, medical professionals and social services to support the pupils, and their families, and to ensure their safety.

It is not yet an outstanding school because : Teachers do not always make sure that all groups of pupils are fully challenged during mathematics lessons, particularly the most able pupils. Although the way senior leaders present information on pupils' performance to staff and governors has improved, it is still complex. As a result, they are sometimes not able to clearly identify priorities for improving the school.

Information about this school

Franche is much larger than the average-sized primary school. The majority of pupils are of White British heritage. The proportion of disadvantaged pupils supported by the pupil premium is average.

This is additional government funding for pupils who are known to be eligible for free school meals or looked after by the local authority. The proportion of disabled pupils and those who have special educational needs is above average. All pupils in the Reception Year attend full-time.

Children in the nursery attend part-time. There is a privately managed nursery on the school site. A 'wraparound' childcare service is also run on the school premises.

Both are managed privately and were not included in the inspection The school has a specially resourced provision for special educational needs called 'Nursery Plus'. This is for children with communication, speech and language needs, and provides for eight children aged two or three years. They attend part-time and in the mornings only.

The school meets the government's current floor standards, which set the minimum expectations for pupils' progress and attainment in reading, writing and mathematics by the end of Year 6. The school has grown since it opened, following the reorganisation of schools in the Wyre Forest in 2007. The school is a partner school in the local teaching alliance.

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