Longsands Community Primary School

Highlights from Latest Inspection

Main findings

This is a good school. Pupils' achievement is outstanding because their attainment is high, particularly in mathematics, and they make good progress from the usually broadly average starting points when children start in the Reception class. The exceptional way in which each child is cared for and nurtured reflects the real warmth and care that radiates from everyone.

Pupils say they feel totally safe and know help is always close at hand. Parents and carers say that staff, `take pupils care and welfare in their stride, bringing out the very best in each individual'. They particularly appreciate the, 'genuine dedication and commitment of staff'.

Pupils develop striking personal qualities. The...y are very proud to contribute to their wonderful and harmonious school community. They show good attitudes to learning, behave exceptionally well and are extremely polite, courteous and respectful to adults and to one another.

These wonderful attributes, along with their high rate of attendance, place them very well to succeed as young adults of tomorrow. Children make good progress in the Early Years Foundation Stage and, after this successful start, continue to learn successfully until the end of Year 6. In recent years, the proportion of pupils reaching and exceeding the expected levels of attainment by the end of Year 6 in mathematics has been exceptionally high.

Although attainment in English is also high, attainment in writing lags behind that of reading. Pupils' progress in writing is inconsistent because teachers do not always make effective use of assessment information to provide work that challenges pupils' thinking, particularly that of the more-able pupils. Furthermore, there are not yet enough opportunities for pupils to practise their writing skills through their work in other subjects.

Older pupils are fully involved in understanding how they are getting on and their learning targets. High quality marking in Year 6, for example, contributes well to the pupils' rapid learning gains in this year group. However, these best practices are inconsistent in other year groups.

Leaders, managers and the governing body work effectively together to drive forward improvement. Since the previous inspection, pupils' attainment has been consistently high and continues to improve further, especially in mathematics. Leaders accurately evaluate the school's effectiveness, recognising its strengths and pinpointing the few remaining weaknesses.

New systems to track pupils' progress, steered effectively by the headteacher, are now established and are helping to identify more precisely any variances in pupils' performance. Currently, staff and the governing body do not make the most of this data in order to influence their monitoring activities and make a fully informed contribution to self-evaluation processes and improvement planning. Nevertheless, there is a combined view of the future and clear actions to sustain the school's many strengths.

These strengths, plus shrewd financial management, is why the school provides outstanding value for money and demonstrates that there is a good capacity to improve further.

Information about the school

The large majority of pupils at this average-sized school are White British. The remaining pupils come from an increasingly diverse range of heritages, although most are Asian or Asian British.

Very few pupils are known to eligible for a free school meal. The proportion of pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities is below average. The school has been accredited with Activemark, the Green Flag Award and has achieved Healthy School status.

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