Great Bardfield Primary School

Highlights from Latest Inspection

Summary of key findings for parents and pupils

This is a good school. Overall, pupils make good progress as they move through the school.

Standards in English are rising quickly in all year groups after a dip in results last year, and they are regularly well above average in mathematics by the end of Year 6. Children in the Reception Year achieve well in all areas of learning because of good teaching and effective support from staff. Teaching is typically good.

Lessons are well planned to make sure all groups of pupils do well. Pupils are fully involved in learning thanks to positive relationships with adults and the brisk pace of lessons. Pupils behave well in lessons and around the school.

They ...feel safe, and have a good understanding of how to keep themselves and others safe. The school's leaders are ambitious and are successfully driving improvement. They have taken successful action to improve teaching and accelerate progress in English across the school over the past year.

The governors have a good understanding of the school's strengths and weaknesses. They carry out their responsibilities effectively and are confident in holding leaders to account for the school's performance. It is not yet an outstanding school because : Pupils still do better in mathematics than in English, where teachers do not yet provide consistently challenging work for all groups of pupils.

Pupils do not have enough opportunities to write for different purposes when working in subjects other than English. Marking does not always give pupils clear guidance on how to improve their work, and even where the next steps for improvement are given, pupils do not always get the opportunity to respond.

Information about this school

Great Bardfield Primary is much smaller than the average-sized primary school.

Almost all pupils are of White British heritage. There are very few from minority ethnic groups and none who speak English as an additional language. The proportion of pupils supported by the pupil premium is well below average.

This additional funding only applies in this school to a small number of pupils who are known to be eligible for free school meals. The proportion of disabled pupils and those who have special educational needs supported through school action is above average. The proportion supported through school action plus or a statement of special educational needs is also above average.

The school meets the government's current floor standards, which set the minimum expectations for pupils' attainment and progress in English and mathematics. In recent years, the number of pupils joining the school has declined significantly. As a result, the number of classes had to be reduced to five, of which four are mixed-age classes.

This has led to several changes in staffing over the past two years. Staffing stabilised over the past year. The school is a member of a consortium of local small primary schools.

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