Pittington Primary School

Highlights from Latest Inspection

Main findings

Pittington is a good school.

It has great strengths in the outstanding care, guidance and support it provides for pupils and the ways in which it forges excellent partnerships with other organisations and agencies to support their learning. Pupils love their school and this is demonstrated in their high attendance. They feel extremely safe and exhibit excellent standards in behaviour.

Parents and carers are greatly supportive of the school and a high proportion of them completed the questionnaire to praise the school. They tell of good progress and the opportunities they have to engage in their children's learning. One comment reflective of many received notes, 'Staff celebrate individual qua...lities and personalities allowing confidence to grow and well-rounded individuals to develop.'

Overall, pupils make good progress from their broadly expected starting points in the Early Years Foundation Stage to reach above average standards when they leave Year 6. Pupils respond well to the good teaching they receive and are motivated to achieve well. The impact of actions to improve the quality of writing in the school is evident in pupils' higher attainment in Key Stages 1 and 2.

Good class management and interesting activities, well-matched to individual needs, enable pupils to progress well. Satisfactory progress over Key Stage 1 represents the lower levels of challenge to pupils, especially for those who are more-able. Expectations are sometimes insufficiently high and lessons in Key Stage 1 do not always fully extend the independent learning skills learnt in the Early Years Foundation Stage.

Under the experienced leadership of the headteacher, the governing body and other school leaders have a good understanding of the school's strengths and weaknesses. Self-evaluation is rigorous and accurate and there is a clear vision to improve the school further. Measures to improve attendance and the quality of behaviour have been particularly effective.

The developing curriculum is motivating pupils' learning and enabling them to make better use of their skills in literacy, numeracy and information and communication technology (ICT) across other subjects. There is exceptional support for the increasing proportion of pupils who are potentially vulnerable or who have specific needs. Clear priorities have been identified for improvement and a suitable plan is in place to achieve them.

Consequently, the school has a good capacity for sustained improvement and provides good value for money.

Information about the school

This school is of average size for a primary school with the proportion of pupils known to be eligible for free school meals low. The majority of pupils are from a White British background and almost all speak English as their first language.

Although few pupils have special educational needs and/or disabilities or have a statement of special educational need, the proportion of such pupils or those whose circumstances may make them potentially vulnerable is increasing. Over half of pupils now come from outside of the catchment area. Since the last inspection, there have been a number of staff changes.

The school holds the following awards: Activemark, Basic Skills Quality Mark, Healthy School status, Football Charter and Intermediate International Schools. A private provider 'Kids Choice' provides additional childcare provision before and after school and during school holidays. This provision was inspected in February 2009.

Inspection grades: 1 is outstanding, 2 is good, 3 is satisfactory and 4 is inadequate Please turn to the glossary for a description of the grades and inspection terms