Honeybourne Primary Academy

Highlights from Latest Inspection

Key findings

This is a good school that ensures pupils are supported well and enabled to make good progress. The good leadership, governance and teaching result in lessons that are matched well to pupils' interests and capabilities in the mixed-age classes. It is not yet outstanding because pupils' attainment has not been consistently higher than average.

Pupils achieve well. Children starting at the school in the Reception Year settle quickly into school routines. Pupils work well in all classes and enjoy learning because teachers make lessons fun and memorable.

As a result, pupils do well and develop an enjoyment for learning. Analysis of the school's tracking data show that by the time pupils leave thei...r standards of attainment are above average in reading, writing and mathematics. Teaching across the school is consistently good.

This is because the school has a strong and appropriate focus on improving the quality of lessons. Support staff are highly skilled and make a valuable contribution to the progress pupils achieve. The high quality of teachers' marking is another factor that makes a strong contribution to helping pupils learn.

Behaviour and safety are good. Pupils display very positive attitudes to school and learning. They are attentive throughout lessons and engage enthusiastically in their work.

Relationships between pupils and staff are strong across the school. Parents and carers value the school highly and speak proudly of its influence on their children. The school's leaders are committed to strengthening the school further.

The commitment and dedication of the whole team and, in particular, the headteacher is commendable. The relatively new leadership structure is working well to drive improvement and raise performance. The curriculum is highly relevant to promoting learning.

The school's improvement plan is well conceived but not focused sharply enough on improving pupils' outcomes.

Information about the school

Honeybourne First School is much smaller than most primary schools. Most pupils come to this small rural school from the village of Honeybourne and the surrounding area.

The number of pupils attending the school has decreased slightly over the last three years. The proportion of pupils known to be eligible for free school meals is lower than average. The proportion of pupils supported by school action plus or with a statement of special educational needs is higher than average.

Pupils transfer to the local middle school at the end of Year 5. The school has an Activemark for its work in physical education and is registered as an eco-school. The Honeybees Nursery, which is located on the school site, is not managed by the governing body and was not part of the inspection.

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