St Mary’s Church of England Voluntary Aided Primary School

Highlights from Latest Inspection

Main findings

St Mary's C of E Primary School is a good school. It has improved significantly from the satisfactory grading at its previous inspection. This is because the headteacher and deputy headteacher, who work in a highly effective partnership with complementary skills, have effectively communicated their vision of excellence and ambition for success throughout the school.

Consequently, all staff work together as a highly committed team. The quality of teaching and learning has improved from satisfactory to good since the previous inspection because of regular lesson observations. These have enabled teachers to improve their practice through feedback on their performance with developmental follow-up.
.../>Teachers know the ways individual pupils learn best, and present a high level of challenge in most lessons. This motivates virtually all pupils to achieve well and make good progress. Standards in English and mathematics in Key Stage 2 have risen rapidly in the last three years and they continue to rise.

Current attainment in Year 6 is above average. A similar picture is apparent in Key Stage 1, where standards have improved rapidly in the current year and attainment in the current Year 2 is only just below average. All pupils, including boys and those of higher ability, have made good progress from their well below average starting points.

This rapid and sustained improvement shows that the school has good capacity to improve further. In Reception, provision is satisfactory. Children enjoy school and behave well, but there are weaknesses in outdoor accommodation and in opportunities for children to work independently.

In Key Stages 1 and 2, attainment in writing has improved, but not so rapidly as that in reading and mathematics. Work in books shows that pupils do not get sufficient regular opportunities to write at length, using literacy targets, in all areas of the curriculum. Pupils' spelling is not consistently accurate.

In Reception, writing is improving, due to the robust application of a scheme introduced recently. This is successful, but too large a proportion of time is spent on it. This reduces the opportunities for children to develop their literacy skills through independent activities involving all the areas of learning.

The school's use of regular and accurate assessment allows all pupils' progress to be carefully tracked. As a result, underachievement is quickly identified and corrected, so pupils of all abilities, including those with special educational needs and/or disabilities, and those from minority ethnic groups, make good progress. Gaps in attainment between boys and girls are rapidly reducing.

The increasing proportion who enter the school in all key stages with little or no English, also make good progress, because of the good support they get from adults and pupils alike. Pupils develop as responsible and caring young people, who know how to keep safe and healthy. They enjoy school and their attendance is good.

Their good behaviour and attitudes make a strong contribution to learning throughout the school. Their excellent contribution to the life of the school is led by the highly influential school council, which represents the school in a local federation. Pupils undertake many responsible jobs around the school.

They have a strong understanding of the shared values of their diverse school community. The school makes an exceptional contribution to community cohesion through its extensive links with local, national and global communities. These include an exceptionally wide range of partnerships with schools, businesses and other organisations which benefit both the communities and the pupils themselves.

The curriculum is enriched by topics on other countries chosen by each class. In these, staff are careful to put over a balanced view of life in other countries, so pupils from all ethnic backgrounds demonstrate a strong sense of common values across different societies. Pupils communicate with e-pals in five different countries.

Information about the school

This average-sized primary school is in an urban situation. The majority of pupils are of White British origin, but about a third come from other minority ethnic groups. Over half of these pupils speak English as an additional language.

The proportion of pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities is broadly average. Most of these pupils have needs that include specific learning or behavioural difficulties. The proportion with a statement of special educational needs is below average.