St Mary’s CofE Primary School

Highlights from Latest Inspection

Summary of key findings for parents and pupils

This is a good school. Outstanding leadership from the headteacher and deputy headteacher, together with the promotion of traditional values of mutual respect and tolerance, are key to success in this school.

From their starting points, all groups of pupils make at least good progress in writing and mathematics and progress in these subjects is outstanding in Key Stage 2. Standards are consistently above average in writing and mathematics and average in reading by the time pupils leave in Year 6. Children make a good start to their learning in the Early Years because of the close attention adults give to developing the social and personal skills of the children.
...r/>The quality of teaching is good and an increasing amount is outstanding. Key to this are the outstanding care and support provided by all the adults for pupils' individual needs. The behaviour of pupils is outstanding.

They are polite, mature, very keen to learn and extremely respectful towards adults and one another. Pupils say, and their parents overwhelmingly agree, that they feel extremely safe and well-cared for in school. The exciting curriculum with an excellent range of out-of school-opportunities in sports, music and the arts provides extremely well for pupils' spiritual, moral, social and cultural development.

Middle leaders are fully involved in checking that all pupils achieve as well as they can in all subjects of the curriculum. All staff and governors have a determination to make the school outstanding. As a result, the school is well placed to continue to improve.

It is not yet an outstanding school because : Pupils do not achieve as well as they could in reading, particularly in Years 1 and 2 and for the most able in all classes, because they do not have a wide enough range of opportunities to apply and extend their reading skills. Marking in books does not consistently guide pupils as to what they need to do to improve their learning and achieve the best they can.

Information about this school

This is an average-sized primary school.

The proportion of pupils disadvantaged and therefore eligible for the pupil premium is average. (The pupil premium funding is additional funding for those pupils eligible for free school meals and those children who are looked after by the local authority.) The proportion of disabled pupils or those with special educational needs supported through school action is average.

The proportion of pupils supported at school action plus or with a statement of special educational needs is below average. The school met the government's floor standards, which are the minimum expectations for pupils' attainment and progress in 2013. The school runs a breakfast- and after-school club.