St John the Baptist Voluntary Aided Church of England Primary School

Highlights from Latest Inspection

Summary of key findings for parents and pupils

This is a good school Leaders have acted quickly to introduce improvements following the previous inspection.

They are fully aware of the quality of education across the school and they have clear plans to build on recent successes. The curriculum supports pupils' personal and academic development effectively. It prepares pupils well for the next stage of their education and life in modern Britain.

Leaders use additional funding for pupil premium, special educational needs, physical education (PE) and sport efficiently. Disadvantaged pupils and pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND) achieve well as a result. All pupils benefit from ac...cess to a wide range of sporting activities.

Leaders have made good use of advice they have commissioned from external agencies. As a result, teaching in the early years, phonics provision and governance have all improved. Members of the governing body know the school well.

They provide appropriate levels of support and challenge to leaders to achieve whole-school priorities for improvement. The early years provides a good start to children's education. Children make good progress in their learning and personal, social and emotional development.

Pupils' behaviour and attitudes to learning are good. Attendance, however, is below the national average, mainly due to term-time holidays. Inconsistencies in the way some teachers use assessment information to plan learning means that some activities are not challenging enough, particularly for the most able pupils in mathematics.

The quality of teaching, learning and assessment is good, and current pupils make good progress across most subjects. Attainment in reading, writing and mathematics at the end of key stage 2 is typically well above average. The depth and quality of pupils' work in history and geography is not as strong as in other subjects.

A small minority of parents are dissatisfied with the work of the school, feeling that communication with senior leaders could be improved.

Information about this school

St John the Baptist Voluntary Aided Church of England Primary School is a smaller-than-average primary school, with one class in each year group from Reception to Year 6. St John the Baptist Voluntary Aided Church of England Primary School has formal designation as a Church of England school.

A separate section 48 inspection of the school's ethos, the content of collective worship and the quality of religious education was conducted in March 2016. The report is available on the school's website. The school works collaboratively and informally with other local schools.

The very large majority of pupils are of White British heritage. The proportion of pupils with SEND who have an education, health and care plan is well below the national average. The proportion of pupils who are known to be eligible for the pupil premium is lower than that in most primary schools.