Sennen Community Primary Academy

Highlights from Latest Inspection

Summary of key findings for parents and pupils

This is a good school. Sennen is a popular, effective school that lies at the heart of its community.

It continues to improve and grow in size as parents acknowledge the good teaching, high quality care and support and stimulating range of learning activities provided for the pupils. Pupils achieve well overall, especially in mathematics, in which a skilled emphasis on problem solving is accelerating progress. The skilled headteacher and assistant headteacher have worked closely and determinedly together to sustain high staff morale through a period of change.

Informed and consistently effective leadership has secured good teaching and pupils' learning across ...the school. Teaching continues to improve. It is often outstanding in the Years 4, 5 and 6 class and good across the rest of the school.

It securely promotes pupils' good achievement. Attendance is above average and by rising steadily year on year reflects the pupils' increasing success and enjoyment of school. Pupils behave well and feel safe.

They are particularly happy that everyone at the school is so friendly. Pupils and parents gratefully acknowledge the warm and caring relationships they have with staff. The governing body is very knowledgeable about the work of the school.

Governors play a very effective role in checking its performance and in encouraging links with other schools and the community to widen pupils' learning activities and to bring further improvement. It is not yet an outstanding school because : Not enough teaching is outstanding to ensure that children's learning is outstanding, especially in writing. Pupils' independent learning skills, particularly their ability to check and improve the quality of their own work, are not developed in a sufficiently step-by-step way as they move through the school.

Information about this school

The school is smaller than the average-sized primary school. Most pupils attending the school are of White British heritage. The proportion of disabled pupils and those with special educational needs supported through school action is below the national average, but this varies and is higher than this in some year groups.

The proportion supported by school action plus or with a statement of special educational needs is also below average. The proportion of pupils known to be eligible for the pupil premium (additional funding for children in local authority care, those known to be eligible for free school meals and other groups) also varies significantly across the year groups, but is below that found nationally overall. Currently, there are no children in local authority care or children from other groups attending this school.

The proportion of pupils joining or leaving the school at other than the normal times is above average. The children in the Early Years Foundation Stage are accommodated in a mixed-age class with Year 1 pupils. Other pupils across the school are taught in two other mixed-aged classes; a Years 2 and 3 class and a Years 4 to 6 class.

The school meets the government's current floor standards, which set out the minimum expectations for pupils' attainment and progress. A pre-school group for children aged from two to four years also operates on the school site and is subject to a separate inspection. The headteacher leads the school for three days each week and an assistant leads the school for the remaining two days each week.