Stoke Gabriel Primary School

Highlights from Latest Inspection

Key findings

This is a good school.

Pupils achieve well and by Year 6 attain above average standards. The school is not outstanding because although already strong in some subjects in some year groups, pupils' progress remains good, rather than outstanding, in others. Teachers strive to make lessons interesting.

The organisation of the curriculum, whereby learning in English and mathematics is often linked to the class topic, supports this well. Consequently, most pupils express enthusiasm for school and learning. Teachers are clear about what they expect pupils to learn in a lesson but occasionally activities are not as closely linked to this targeted learning as they should be.

Pupils behave wel...l and feel safe in school. In lessons, they behave in a way that allows them to concentrate well and others to learn. Pupils are clear that there is very little deliberate bad behaviour in or around school.

However, a number feels that the boisterousness of some play in the playground makes them feel less comfortable at playtimes than they would like to be. The headteacher leads the school well. The performance management of teaching is good, ensuring an increasing number of pupils are making better than expected progress.

The monitoring of teaching is, however, not yet sufficiently precise in identifying exactly what each teacher needs to do to raise their practice from good to outstanding. There are clear systems by which parents and carers can express opinions about the school either in person or anonymously. There is evidence that the headteacher and governors take these concerns seriously and act upon them where appropriate.

Nevertheless, some parents feel their concerns are not responded to sufficiently well. With the exception of issues about playtime, the concerns raised by parents were not supported by inspection evidence. However, restoring parents' confidence in feeling that their concerns are given due importance is an area that the school needs to address.

Information about the school

This much smaller-than-average-sized primary school serves its local area. Almost all pupils are of White British heritage. The proportion of pupils known to be eligible for free school meals is below average.

A below average percentage of pupils are disabled or have special educational needs. Pupils' special educational needs include specific and moderate learning difficulties and autistic spectrum disorder. With the exception of those in Year 2, pupils, including those in the Reception Year, are taught in classes covering two age groups.

The school meets the current government floor standards, which set the minimum expectations for pupils' attainment and progress. Since November 2011, the school has been part of the Totnes Federation of Village Schools. This is a group of six schools who has a single governing body.

The federation has a co-leadership structure, within which each school has its own headteacher. Since the time of the previous inspection, the school has experienced a period of turbulence caused by the unavoidable long-term absence of two of the five teaching staff. At the time of this inspection, stability of staffing had been regained.