Whitehouse Common Primary School

Highlights from Latest Inspection

Summary of key findings for parents and pupils

This is a good school The headteacher provides strong and purposeful leadership.

Pupils, parents and carers, and staff are in full support of her clear vision. Senior leaders are a cohesive team and they secure successful improvements to the quality of teaching. Staff feel well supported to develop their classroom practice.

Relationships between staff and pupils are extremely positive. As a result, pupils' personal development is extremely well catered for. Middle leaders are proactive and make positive improvements to their areas of responsibility.

They receive good-quality training from leaders and feel trusted to lead. By the end of key stage 2, th...e proportion of pupils who achieve the expected standards in reading, writing and mathematics is high. A high proportion of pupils achieve the expected standard in the Year 1 phonics screening check.

Governors are passionate and have a good understanding of the school's strengths. However, governors' understanding of pupils' progress and attainment is not strong enough to provide robust challenge to leaders. Senior leaders analyse pupil assessment information thoroughly and effectively.

Some middle leaders do not have a strong grasp of trends in pupils' attainment and progress. Teachers use precise subject knowledge to help pupils acquire new skills confidently. Staff use probing questions so that pupils develop a deep understanding of what they are learning.

Pupils enjoy reading widely and often. Reading comprehension skills are taught well, which boosts pupils' progress. Occasionally, teachers do not provide a sufficient level of challenge for middle and high-attaining pupils.

Consequently, their progress slows, particularly in key stage 1. Teachers' good use of practical apparatus helps to deepen pupils' mathematical understanding. Pupils do not get sufficient opportunities to apply and record their mathematical understanding into reasoning problems.

Pupils love the interesting curriculum topics. They develop effective skills, knowledge and understanding across a range of subjects. Pupils' behaviour in class and during social times is outstanding.

A wonderful range of enrichment activities contributes strongly to pupils' outstanding personal development. Children get off to positive start in the early years. They enjoy the range of stimulating activities and make good progress.

Information about this school

The school meets requirements on the publication of specified information on its website. The school is a larger-than-average-sized primary school. The proportion of disadvantaged pupils supported by the pupil premium funding is well below the national average.

The proportion of pupils who speak English as an additional language is below the national average. The proportion of pupils who have SEN and/or disabilities is well below the national average. The school meets the government's current floor standards, which are the minimum expectations for pupils' attainment and progress in reading, writing and mathematics by the end of Year 6.