St Mary’s Church of England Infant School

Highlights from Latest Inspection

Summary of key findings for parents and pupils

This is a good school. St Mary's is an extremely caring school community where staff go to great lengths to support pupils and their families.

Learning gets off to a good start in the early years. Children quickly settle into the stimulating environment, make good progress and become keen learners. Throughout their time at the school, pupils make good progress in both their learning and their personal development.

In 2014, because of good teaching, the standards of attainment reached at the end of Year 2 were higher than average in reading, writing and mathematics. Pupils who are disadvantaged make at least the same good progress as other pupils in the school,... as do those with special educational needs. Teaching is good with some which is outstanding.

Teachers and teaching assistants work well together to provide a good level of support to pupils with any additional needs Attendance has improved and is now average. Pupils' behaviour is good. They learn to respect each other and the adults around them.

Pupils settle quickly to their work and enjoy their learning. Procedures to ensure that pupils are safe are outstanding. As a result, pupils feel extremely safe and very well looked after by staff.

The dedicated headteacher is highly ambitious for every pupil. The deputy headteacher and the strong staff team share her ambition to ensure pupils reach their full potential in both their personal development and academic achievement. School leaders, including governors, have consistently improved pupils' achievement and the quality of teaching through a period of significant turbulence.

The school continues to improve. It is not yet an outstanding school because : Children in the early years do not have a wide enough range of opportunities to reinforce their learning when they learn outdoors. There is not enough outstanding teaching to ensure that a higher proportion of the pupils make rapid progress.

Teachers do not always make sure that pupils make improvements to their work following teacher feedback and marking.

Information about this school

St Mary's is smaller than the average sized primary school. The proportion of disadvantaged pupils, those supported by the pupil premium, is below that found nationally.

The pupil premium is additional government funding for pupils known to be eligible for free school meals and children who are looked after. The proportion of pupils with special educational needs is also below that found nationally. Almost all pupils are from a White British heritage.

Children in the Reception class attend full time. Since the previous inspection, there have been significant changes in teaching staff and the governing body. The school is part of the Witney Partnership of schools.

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