Putteridge Primary School

Highlights from Latest Inspection

Summary of key findings for parents and pupils

This is a good school.

The school has a strong, highly effective and inspirational headteacher who is ably supported by senior leaders and an equally committed governing body. Collectively, they have taken decisive action to improve the quality of teaching and the achievement of pupils, both of which are now good. Pupils' behaviour is outstanding.

Their good attendance and enthusiastic attitudes to learning significantly enhance their rapidly improving and now good, progress. Pupils say that they feel extremely safe at all times because of the hard work of all the adults in school to keep them safe. Leaders have introduced an exciting curriculum.

It i...s broad and balanced and strongly supports pupils' social, moral, spiritual and cultural development and their enjoyment of lessons. Teaching is now good and sometimes outstanding. Standards continue to rise as all pupils, especially the most able, are fully challenged by teachers' consistently good questioning and guidance.

Teachers' assessments are used carefully to identify pupils who are at risk of falling behind and support programmes are put in place to move their learning on. As a result, pupils' achievement is good. Across the school, pupils are working at levels in reading, writing and mathematics that are higher than those expected for their age.

In relation to their starting points, the pupils' skills reflect good progress over time. Provision in the early years is good. Children in the Reception class get off to a good start and are well prepared for Year 1.

Disabled pupils and those with special educational needs receive well-organised provision and skilled support. Their learning needs are well met; consequently, they too make good progress. Governors keep themselves well-informed about pupils' progress and rigorously hold the school to account for the standards achieved.

High staff morale and close links with parents further support the strong drive for continued improvement. It is not yet an outstanding school because : The excellent practice that exists in the school is not shared enough to improve further the quality of teaching and pupils' learning. Teachers' expectations for what pupils should achieve are not always high enough in every year group.

Pupils' spelling is not as good as it could be and this sometimes hinders the progress some pupils make in writing.

Information about this school

The school is larger than the average-sized primary school. A large majority of pupils attending the school are of White British heritage.

A small minority are from a wide range of minority ethnic groups; some are at an early stage of learning English. The proportion of disadvantaged pupils supported by the pupil premium is below average. The pupil premium is additional government funding the school receives to support pupils who are known to be eligible for free school meals or are looked after by the local authority.

The proportion of disabled pupils or those who have special educational needs is below average. Children in the early years attend the school's Reception class on a full-time basis. The school meets the government's current floor standards, which set out the minimum expectations for pupils' attainment and progress in reading, writing and mathematics by the end of Year 6.

The school was formed by the merger of an infant and a junior school in 2011. A new headteacher started work at the school in September 2012. The school is used by the local authority to support other local schools.

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