St Margarets CofE Primary School

Highlights from Latest Inspection

Summary of key findings for parents and pupils

This is a good school. Children get off to a good start in the Nursery and Reception classes because teaching is consistently good. Pupils make good progress over time and there is a trend of rising standards throughout the school.

A focus on improving writing has caused standards to rise rapidly. Pupils are enthusiastic about learning and they behave well. They feel safe at school.

Good teaching means that all groups of pupils make good progress, including disabled pupils and those who have special educational needs and those who speak English as an additional language. The newly formed headship team, supported well by the governing body, has brought about sw...ift improvement in teaching and introduced very thorough systems for tracking pupils' progress. It is not yet an outstanding school because : Occasionally, work is not set at the right level for some pupils.

Not enough marking and target setting match the best examples in the school. Pupils do not have sufficient opportunity to use and apply their mathematical skills to solve real-life problems. In some classes pupils do not write at length in different subjects.

Information about this school

The school is larger than the average-sized primary school. Most pupils are from Black African backgrounds and the proportion of pupils who speak English as an additional language is high, and increasing. The proportion of pupils known to be eligible for the pupil premium (which provides additional funding for children in local authority care, those known to be eligible for free school meals and pupils with a parent in the armed services) is below average.

The school has no looked after children or pupils with a parent in the armed services. The proportion of disabled pupils and those who have special educational needs supported through school action is below average. The proportion of pupils supported at school action plus or with a statement of special educational needs is also below average.

The Early Years Foundation Stage consists of a Nursery with 52 part-time places and a Reception Unit that contains two class bases and many shared areas. The school meets the government's current floor standards, which set the minimum expectations for progress and standards in English and mathematics. The school runs a before- and after-school club, known as Smarties.