Newnham Croft Primary School

Highlights from Latest Inspection

Summary of key findings for parents and pupils

This is a good school.

The headteacher provides outstanding leadership. Consequently, teaching is consistently good and some is outstanding. Standards are above average in all subjects.

All pupils make expected progress between Year 2 and Year 6 and many exceed expectations. For years, absence rates have been very high in comparison to other schools. Attendance is now average and improving rapidly.

Governors are extremely astute and well informed about the school's work. They have a very clear view of how the school can improve and apply the right balance of support and challenge to ensure that plans for improvement come to fruition. All of the improv...ement points from the previous inspection have been addressed successfully, particularly the quality of teaching and learning in Reception.

Leaders and managers at all levels have developed an outstanding curriculum. It focuses on the acquisition of key skills in reading, writing and mathematics while ensuring that pupils have access to rich and memorable learning experiences in all other subjects. Pupils' behaviour and safety are outstanding.

They reciprocate the respect and courtesy afforded to them by staff and each other and show excellent attitudes towards learning. Their understanding of safety in and beyond school is impressive. Parental satisfaction has risen since the previous inspection and parents and carers attribute this to the headteacher's leadership.

They especially appreciate significant improvements in communication between home and school. It is not yet an outstanding school because : Achievement in writing is improving but not outstanding. Pupils are not always applying the skills they learn in literacy to written work in other subjects.

The school has a robust system for gathering information to check pupils' achievement in English, mathematics and science but this is unsystematic in other subjects.

Information about this school

This is an average-sized primary school. Half of the pupils attending are from a very wide range of minority ethnic heritages and the rest are White British.

The proportion of pupils who speak English as an additional language is above average. The percentage of pupils joining or leaving the school during the school year is much higher than average. Many families have short-term placements at the university nearby.

Their children have previously been educated in different international education systems. A few pupils generate additional government funding through the pupil premium. This funding is for pupils who are known to be eligible for free school meals, those who are looked after by the local authority and other groups.

The proportions of pupils supported through school action, school action plus or with a statement of special educational needs are all below average. Children in the Early Years Foundation Stage are taught either in a single-age class or a mixed Reception and Year 1 class. The school meets the government's current floor standards, which set the minimum expectations for pupils' progress and attainment by the end of Year 6.

A pre-school and after school club are hosted on the premises. These are registered with Ofsted but privately run and subject to separate inspections. The headteacher has been in post for less than two years and the deputy took up her post at the start of this school year.

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