Vicarage Park CofE Primary School

Highlights from Latest Inspection

Summary of key findings for parents and pupils

This is a good school The focused and effective leadership of the headteacher, governors and senior leaders has successfully arrested the previous decline in the school's fortunes.

A corner has been turned and the quality of education at Vicarage Park is now good. Leaders have a good understanding of the school's strengths and areas for improvement and are ambitious to maintain the school's forward momentum. Their vision is shared by staff and parents, the large majority of whom would recommend the school to others.

The quality of teaching, learning and assessment across the school is good. Teaching in Years 5 and 6 is especially strong and highly effective. T...eachers' subject knowledge is good and they use questioning well to move pupils' learning forward.

Teaching assistants provide good support, particularly for those pupils who have special educational needs and/or disabilities. Pupils' personal development, behaviour and welfare are good. Pupils are polite and friendly and behave sensibly around school and on the playground.

They said that they feel safe and enjoy coming to school...

Provision for pupils' spiritual, moral, social and cultural development is effective and the school prepares pupils well for life in modern Britain. The quality of provision in the early years has improved and is now good. Children settle in quickly, benefiting from engaging indoor and outdoor areas.

They make good progress during their time in the Reception class. Most children achieve a good level of development by the end of the early years and so are well prepared for life in Year 1. The school provides pupils with a broad and balanced curriculum, which is effectively enhanced by a good range of extra-curricular clubs and activities.

Provision for sport and art is particularly good, and pupils are proud to have the chance to represent their school in a variety of competitions. Although the quality of teaching has improved and is now good overall, some inconsistencies remain. Aspects of the strongest practice in the school are not yet secure in all classes.

For example, some teaching lacks the precision and urgency of that which is most effective. Over time, too few pupils have reached the highest standards in mathematics, particularly in key stage 2. Too often, teachers fail to provide the most able pupils with work in mathematics that is challenging enough, and this slows the progress they make.

Information about this school

Vicarage Park is smaller than the average-size primary school. The proportion of disadvantaged pupils is below average, as is the proportion of pupils who speak English as an additional language. The proportion of pupils who have special educational needs and/or disabilities is above average.

The school offers specialist resourced provision for up to six pupils, although at the time of the inspection not all of these places had been taken up. The school meets the government's current floor standards, which are the minimum expectations for achievement in Year 6. In the early years, children in the Reception class attend on a full-time basis.

The school meets requirements on the publication of specified information on its website. There have been significant staffing changes since the previous inspection. The current headteacher joined the school in September 2016.