Gardners Lane Primary School

Highlights from Latest Inspection

Summary of key findings for parents and pupils

This is a good school. Pupils achieve well and make good progress in all year groups.

Children join the school with low levels of skills and leave Year 6 having reached broadly average standards. The high proportion of pupils eligible for free school meals make particularly good progress and the gap between their performance and that of their classmates has almost closed. The quality of teaching is good and is the main reason for pupils' good progress.

Teachers mostly provide good levels of challenge for their pupils, and this shows in the number achieving the higher levels in the national assessments at the end of Year 6. Teaching assistants are skilled and p...lay a key role in aiding pupils' good progress. Pupils' behaviour and safety are good.

They are polite and considerate. They are keen to do well in class and typically work hard. The school's procedures for keeping pupils safe are rigorous and regularly reviewed.

There is a shared determination among all leaders, staff and governors to provide the best for the pupils. This is reflected in the school's thorough systems which have improved the quality of teaching and pupils' achievement. Middle managers are particularly effective in driving improvements in their subjects.

Governors are supportive and have a clear understanding of the school's strengths and areas for improvement as a result of their programme of well-focused visits. It is not yet an outstanding school because: Pupils' progress in writing is not as rapid as it is in reading because they do not always have sufficient command of spelling and grammar rules or a sufficiently wide vocabulary to write engagingly. Pupils' progress in mathematics is not as strong as it could be because they are not fast enough at calculations and do not get enough experience of solving problems when they are written in words.

Information about this school

Gardners Lane Primary School is an average-sized primary school. Pupils are grouped into eight classes: one for Reception, one for Reception and Year 1, one for Years 1 and 2, and one each for Years 2 to 6. The proportion of pupils supported by the pupil premium, which is additional funding for pupils known to be eligible for free school meals and children who are looked after by the local authority, is much higher than average.

A large majority of pupils are from White British backgrounds. Other pupils are from a variety of minority ethnic groups with no one group predominating, although the proportion of pupils from Asian backgrounds is increasing. The proportion of pupils who speak English as an additional language is broadly average.

The proportion of disabled pupils and those who have special educational needs supported through school action is well above average. The proportion supported at school action plus or with a statement of special educational needs is broadly average. The school meets the government's current floor standards, which set the minimum expectations for pupils' attainment and progress.

The school is federated with another primary school and seven children's centres. The headteacher is executive headteacher of all of these schools and centres, which also all share the same governing body. The school shares its site with one of these children's centres, which did not form part of this inspection.

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