Grange First School

Highlights from Latest Inspection

Main findings

This is a good school. Members of the governing body are managing the transition between headteachers skilfully, based on clear core values for the school.

These values include creating good quality teaching and well-focussed care, guidance and support. Governors are keen to raise the quality of teaching to outstanding. The acting headteacher has made an excellent start to his role and, together with the staff, is building firmly on the school's self-evaluation.

Staff, pupils, parents and carers express great confidence in his leadership. Management systems run smoothly. These features result in a good capacity for sustained improvement.

Pupils make good progress and achieve well as ...they move through the school. This is a result of consistently good teaching and a well-balanced curriculum with a clear focus on basic skills. Children enter the school with development slightly lower than typical for children of this age.

They make consistently good progress through Nursery and Reception classes, particularly in their personal development. The school has focussed on improving provision in pupils' writing and mathematics. As a result attainment is rising, with some significantly higher standards.

Whilst attainment in reading is above average, it is slightly lower than writing and mathematics. The school has identified this and has clear plans to increase pupils' progress further. There are good systems for developing reading skills, particularly in the literature-based project where pupils work with a key text over time.

There are some outstanding features in the daily phonics sessions (letters and the sounds they make) but the progress in these sessions is variable. The school promotes equal opportunities extremely well, particularly in analysing different groups of pupils' progress to narrow any gaps in attainment. A key strength of the school is the pupils' personal development.

The weekly organisation where pupils move into the same mixed-age groups for personal, social, health, citizenship and emotional development works very well. This results in pupils having an excellent understanding of keeping healthy and with older pupils supporting younger pupils very confidently. The weekly sessions where pupils work across a wide range of mixed-aged activities also supports learning very effectively.

Many external specialists work in partnership with the school, providing particularly good support for pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities and pupils who speak English as an additional language. The school creates excellent partnerships with parents who show great confidence in the provision.

Information about the school

The school is smaller than most primary schools.

The proportion of pupils known to be eligible for free school meals is lower than usual. The majority of pupils are of White British heritage. More than nine different ethnic groups attend the school.

The proportion of these pupils is lower than the national average. A larger than average proportion of pupils speak English as an additional language. The proportion of pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities is broadly average with a smaller proportion of pupils than usual having a statement of special educational needs.

The school has Healthy School status, Eco-School status, the Activemark, Basic Skills Quality mark, International School intermediate award and Investors in Children membership. An external acting headteacher was appointed for the term as a result of the previous headteacher moving to another headship. An externally appointed acting deputy headteacher was in post this year to cover for maternity leave.

Inspection grades: 1 is outstanding, 2 is good, 3 is satisfactory and 4 is inadequate Please turn to the glossary for a description of the grades and inspection terms