Warrender Primary School

Highlights from Latest Inspection

Main findings

Warrender is a good school. The quality of teaching and learning is good and the school's curriculum caters well for pupils' individual needs. The level of care provided for pupils' personal welfare and development is good and enables pupils to feel secure and learn with confidence.

As a result, achievement is good. Pupils make good progress and reach well-above-average standards. Attainment at the end of Year 6 in both English and mathematics has risen to high levels in the past two years and progress made by pupils in 2011 was greater than progress made by pupils of that age nationally.

The school's tracking system confirms that current pupils are making similar progress and this is support...ed by evidence seen in lessons and books. Pupils with special educational needs are making good progress because of the good level of support they receive. Teaching assistants supervise withdrawal sessions for them very well, but this has the disadvantage of disconnecting from the curriculum in class.

Pupils whose first language is not English participate fully in lessons and keep pace with their classmates. Pursuit of Enhanced Healthy School status has brought many benefits for pupils. The initiative embraces personal safety and emotional health and well-being as well as exercise and healthy eating.

It has led to pupils campaigning successfully for a zebra crossing on a nearby road, and they value discussion of personal feelings in the curriculum in Circle Time. As a consequence, pupils know they can make a positive contribution to the community. They also are confident that they can resolve personal problems or worries.

Their capacity for reflection is good because they understand ideas quite deeply and can put them into their own words, as they did when speaking to inspectors about what they valued in school. Attendance is high. Behaviour is consistently good, so adults can rely on pupils to take independent responsibility more often.

Pupils have real enthusiasm for learning and some said that they would like to be more challenged than they sometimes are, especially when work is pitched at too low a level or they repeat a task they have already mastered. Although teaching is good overall, there are times when teachers do not challenge pupils to move quickly to a higher level while working independently. Teachers mark work regularly and this enables them to maintain the accuracy of progress tracking.

However, the written feedback in pupils' books is encouraging, but at times imprecise in guiding pupils to improve their work. The quality of the school's self-evaluation is good. The headteacher works well with his staff and the governing body to ensure that the school frequently and accurately evaluates its performance and implements improvements where needed.

As a result, the school has maintained and in some ways improved its effectiveness since the previous inspection and demonstrates a good capacity for future improvement. Engagement with parents and carers, for example, is now good and much improved since the previous inspection. The curriculum has also been adjusted to help children understand and enjoy different cultures in their own community and beyond.

The most important improvement has been the development of the school's effective tracking and progress monitoring system. This highlights where pupils are making less progress than they should and determines new teaching strategies for them. It is not yet used to help direct teachers to challenge the more able pupils to move more quickly to higher levels of attainment.

Information about the school

Warrender is average in size for a primary school. More pupils than usual are from minority ethnic backgrounds. A higher proportion than average speak English as an additional language.

The school has a low proportion of pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities and most of this group have autistic spectrum disorder. The proportion of pupils known to be eligible for free school meals is well below average. The school has gained Enhanced Healthy School status amongst other awards.

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