Thorpe Acre Junior School

Highlights from Latest Inspection

Summary of key findings for parents and pupils

This is a good school. The work of the headteacher and senior leaders, well supported by the whole staff team, has led to considerable improvements since the previous inspection. Teaching has improved, thanks to leaders' thorough checks, followed up with effective staff training.

Consequently, teaching has a good impact on learning. Pupils achieve well and standards at the end of Year 6 have risen sharply over the past three years in reading, writing and mathematics. Pupils' behaviour and attitudes are good and this contributes strongly to the good learning in lessons.

Pupils say they feel safe in school. They are aware of the different forms that bullying can... take and how to avoid it. Pupils enjoy a good variety of exciting additional activities throughout the school year.

These include visits, residential stays and visitors to the school. The school accurately evaluates how well it is doing, and leaders and managers know just what needs to be done to improve the school's effectiveness further. It is not yet an outstanding school because : Teaching is not yet leading to outstanding achievement.

Occasionally, the pace of learning in lessons is too slow. Sometimes, teachers do not vary tasks enough, and pupils are not always encouraged to develop the skill of learning independently without direction from adults. Systems for checking pupils' progress are too complex and the resulting data not easy to analyse.

This makes it difficult for governors to monitor standards robustly.

Information about this school

This school is smaller than average. Most of the pupils are White British.

The proportion of pupils known to be eligible for additional funding (the pupil premium) is above average. In this school, these are pupils who are known to be eligible for free school meals. An above-average proportion of pupils are supported through school action, school action plus or with a statement of special educational needs.

More than an average proportion of pupils join the school at the later stages of Key Stage 2. The school meets the government's current floor standards, which set the minimum expectations for pupils' attainment and progress. The school does not use any alternative provision (lessons that take place regularly away from the school site).

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