Tivetshall Community Primary School

Highlights from Latest Inspection

Summary of key findings for parents and pupils

This is a good school. Strong leadership from governors, the executive headteacher and other leaders has helped the school to improve rapidly since the last inspection.

Pupils achieve well from their different starting points in reading, writing and mathematics. This is due to the good teaching they receive. The school prepares pupils well for life in modern Britain by ensuring pupils understand and respect the different ways people live in our society.

Pupils' behaviour is outstanding. They put into practice the values they are taught. This is a strength of the school's work and is evident in the respect and care pupils show for others.

The school is... rigorous in ensuring pupils are kept safe. Leaders' robust systems for checking teachers' work, and improvements to the staffing, have resulted in good teaching and achievement. The curriculum contains a good range of topics that are appropriate for pupils' interests and ages.

Teachers plan carefully to ensure they cater fully for the wide range of ages and abilities in their classes. The governing body provides good support and challenge for school leaders. The Chair of Governors provides outstanding leadership across the federation and this has had a very positive impact on this school's improvement.

Pupils in the early years are well taught and have a very positive start to their schooling. Attendance is well above average. It is not yet an outstanding school because : Leaders have not ensured that the new national programme of study in mathematics are taught in full.

Leaders have not ensured that gaps in older pupils' mathematical understanding, caused by previously weaker teaching, have been filled. Pupils do not have enough opportunities to use and improve their skills in mental arithmetic. Teachers do not place sufficient emphasis on developing pupils' understanding of the meaning of words during lessons.

Teachers, including those in the early years, do not make good use of outdoor resources when planning activities.

Information about this school

Tivetshall Primary School is much smaller than the average-sized primary school. The school is part of a federation with Burston Primary School.

The schools share an executive headteacher and have a single governing body. The proportion of disabled pupils and those who have special educational needs is broadly average. An above-average proportion of pupils are disadvantaged and supported by the pupil premium, which provides additional funding for pupils who are known to be eligible for free school meals or looked after by the local authority.

The school is too small to be included in the government's current floor standards, which set the minimum expectations for pupils' attainment and progress in reading, writing and mathematics by the end of Year 6. Children in the early years attend the school on a full-time basis and are taught in a class with Year 1, Year 2 and Year 3 pupils. The school runs a breakfast club each day.