Harbertonford Church of England Primary School

Highlights from Latest Inspection

Summary of key findings for parents and pupils

This is a good school. Pupils are achieving well. Their attainment is rising as a result of more rapid progress over the last two years.

This is because teaching focuses precisely on meeting the needs of pupils of all abilities. Teaching is good across the school. There are some outstanding aspects, such as the skilful way teachers plan work that develops pupils' understanding and extends their thinking.

Effective actions taken by senior leaders to improve the quality of teaching have ensured that teachers have high expectations of what pupils can achieve in lessons. Pupils have very positive attitudes to their learning and apply themselves diligently to their... work. Typically they are polite, friendly and behave well.

The leadership and management of the school are good. The very dedicated headteacher has inspired her staff to continue improving, providing them with well targeted training and checking their work robustly. The leadership of the school, especially governance, has been strengthened by the creation of the federated partnership of six local village schools.

This has helped to forge a strong sense of ambition for the school. It is not yet an outstanding school because : The proportion of outstanding teaching is not high enough. Occasionally, teachers do not provide pupils with the precise steps they need to take to be successful in lessons or the opportunities for them to judge their success against these.

The targets in the school improvement plans are not sharp and specific enough for leaders and managers to judge how successful they have been.

Information about this school

This school is much smaller than the average-sized primary school. The school federated with five other village primary schools in November 2011 to form the Totnes Federation of Village Schools.

There is a shared governing body with six individual headteachers. The proportion of pupils known to be eligible for the pupil premium, which provides additional government funding for pupils known to be eligible for free school meals, children in local authority care and children with a parent in the armed forces, is below the national average. Currently, there are very few children with a parent in the armed forces and very few children in local authority care.

The proportion of disabled pupils and those who have special educational needs supported at school action is below the national average. The proportion supported at school action plus or with a statement of special educational needs is also below average. The school meets the government's current floor standard which sets the minimum expectations for pupils' attainment and progress.