St Mary’s CofE Academy Stotfold

Highlights from Latest Inspection

Summary of key findings for parents and pupils

This is a good school This school has improved quickly because leaders and teachers have worked together successfully and improved the quality of teaching and pupils' progress. Teaching and learning are good across the school. Teachers have high expectations for learning and behaviour and provide pupils of different ages and abilities with challenging and interesting work.

Leaders and teachers make regular checks on pupils' progress, which helps them adapt teaching to ensure that all pupils can make good progress. Pupils in all year groups make good progress from their different starting points in most subjects, including reading and mathematics. Following significant ...improvement, pupils' writing skills are good.

Where improvement was required at the last inspection, effective teaching has helped groups of pupils to catch up, particularly boys, disadvantaged pupils and the most able. Pupils' personal development, behaviour and welfare are good because of the work of the school in keeping them safe, promoting good attitudes and encouraging healthy living. Leaders and governors evaluate the school's performance accurately and this has helped drive improvements in the quality of education, especially teaching and learning.

The quality of education in the early years is good. Children make good progress because of high expectations, accurate assessment and good teaching. It is not yet an outstanding school because : In geography and religious education, pupils are not provided with sufficient time to complete written work to the standards they achieve in other subjects.

Teachers in key stage 1 sometimes do not fully enough check on pupils' understanding when starting new work in mathematics. As a result, a small number of pupils do not make best use of their mathematical knowledge, and their progress, correspondingly, is slower than others.

Information about this school

St Mary's Church of England Academy is smaller than the average-sized primary school.

Pupils attend classes set in mixed-age groups as well as classes combining pupils of different abilities. The school converted to become an academy in April 2012. The school is not part of a chain of state academy schools but it is part of the Anglican diocese of St Albans.

Most pupils are of White British heritage and the proportion of pupils from minority ethnic groups is well below average. Very few pupils speak English as an additional language. The proportion of pupils with special educational need or disability is below average, and the proportion supported by a statement of special educational needs or through an education, health and care plan is very low.

The number of pupils supported by funding known as the pupil premium is low. The pupil premium is additional funding for pupils known to be eligible for free school meals and children who are looked after by the local authority. There is a children's centre on the site which is run by the governing body but inspected separately.

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