Sunnyfields Primary School

Highlights from Latest Inspection

Main findings

Sunnyfields Primary School provides a good standard of education.

It has successfully built upon existing strengths, so that the school enables pupils from very diverse backgrounds to make good progress in acquiring knowledge and skills at the same time as developing an impressive range of personal qualities. Parents and carers are very appreciative of the very inclusive ethos, a typical comment being 'The school provides a wonderfully caring and friendly atmosphere which makes my son really look forward to going to school each day.' Children make a good start to their school life in the Nursery, where the high-quality teaching enables them to make rapid progress in all areas of learning and personal ...development.

Progress is less rapid in Reception, particularly in developing the skills of communication, language and literacy, and those of numeracy. This is because the link between the Nursery and Reception is not strong enough to ensure teaching and learning of a consistently high standard, although children overall make good progress from their starting point in the Nursery to the time they join Year 1. Pupils continue to make good progress as they move up through the school, leaving at the age of 11 with broadly average levels of attainment, and which are considerably higher than when they joined the school.

Attainment has been higher in English than in mathematics, but the school has made considerable strides in addressing this relative weakness in mathematics. All pupils share in the good progress, including the substantial proportions of those with special educational needs and/or disabilities and those at an early stage of learning English as an additional language. This is because of good teaching, strong personal and social development, and outstanding care, guidance and support, which together make pupils feel very safe in school and which give them a very positive attitude towards learning.

The above-average number of pupils who join the school part way through their education make good progress. Many of the incoming pupils come from challenging circumstances, and the school very effectively gives them the support and confidence to integrate quickly and then learn well. Pupils behave well and enjoy the good range of enrichment activities such as clubs and visits.

They also enjoy lessons, which cover interesting topics, and benefit from specialist input in several areas such as Spanish, music and physical education. The good teaching is characterised particularly by effective use of assessment to show pupils how to improve their work and which contributes to good progress. There is occasional satisfactory teaching, which leads to patches of slower progress, especially in mathematics.

In these lessons, there is usually less pace and challenge, so the pace of learning drops for some pupils. Although the current leadership team has only recently been established, it comprises experienced members of staff who know the school very well. The school has successfully addressed issues identified at the previous inspection by improving the use of assessment and broadening pupils' understanding of other cultures.

The acting headteacher has a drive and determination to move the school forward, supported strongly by other staff and governors. She has made the monitoring of key areas such as teaching and learning more rigorous and systematic, and introduced other successful initiatives, for example to improve attendance. The school is committed to excellence.

This determination, the record of successful improvement over time, accurate self-evaluation and planning which are focused on the appropriate priorities show that the school has a good capacity for sustained improvement.

Information about the school

Sunnyfields Primary School is an average-sized school. Most pupils come from a wide range of minority ethnic heritages and a large majority of pupils speak English as an additional language.

The proportion of pupils identified as having special educational needs and/or disabilities is above average. The proportion of pupils known to be eligible for free school meals is above average. Children join the Early Years Foundation Stage in the Nursery and also attend a Reception class.

A larger than average number of pupils join the school part way through their education. The school has Healthy Schools status, the Activemark and the Geography Quality Mark. The school has experienced several staffing changes at all levels in recent months, and at the time of the inspection, a new leadership team was headed by an acting headteacher, who had been appointed from her existing post as deputy headteacher during the current school year.