Mendham Primary School

Highlights from Latest Inspection

Summary of key findings for parents and pupils

This is a good school. The executive headteacher and assistant headteachers have rapidly improved the school in the last 18 months and addressed weaknesses in teaching. Pupils' progress has improved rapidly this year because of the good training for teachers provided through the newly formed federation, the 'Waveney Valley Partnership'.

Attainment in English and mathematics is broadly average and is rising steadily at Key Stage 2. Over time, rates of progress have continued to rise so that currently all pupils in Year 6 are expected to do well in English and mathematics at the end of Key Stage 2. The teaching of reading, linking sounds and letters, is improving.
...r/>Support staff who work with pupils in need of additional help are making a strong contribution to their rapid progress. Excellent personal, spiritual, moral, social and cultural development is at the heart of the school's success and underpins all of the school's strengths. There is good engagement with the community as well as parents and carers.

Governors know the school well and firmly hold the school to account for its performance and its finances. It is not yet an outstanding school because : Not enough pupils are reaching the highest levels in English at Key Stage 1 and mathematics at Key Stage 2. Teachers are not all using the well-established collaborative learning style in the school to ensure that pupils are playing a more active role in their learning.

Marking is not always used well enough to let pupils know what they need to do to improve. Teachers do not give pupils enough practice in solving 'real-life' mathematical problems in subjects other than mathematics.

Information about this school

This school is smaller than average.

All pupils come from White British backgrounds. Few pupils are eligible for additional funding through the pupil premium. In this school, this extra government funding currently applies only to pupils known to be eligible for free school meals and pupils who are looked after by the local authority.

The proportion of disabled pupils and those who have special educational needs supported at school action plus or with a statement of special education needs is above average. Currently the school has no pupils supported through school action. More than one-quarter of pupils enter or leave the school at times other than the start of the school year.

The school has undergone major changes since the previous inspection. It is now part of the Waveney Valley Partnership which was confirmed as a 'hard' federation in May 2013. The new executive headteacher was appointed in January 2012 and all bar one teacher, including two new assistant headteachers, were appointed thereafter.

The majority of governors including the Chair are new. The school manages a breakfast club and after-school clubs. The school meets the government's current floor standards, which set the minimum expectations for pupils' attainment and progress in English and mathematics.