Wickhambreaux Church of England Primary School

Highlights from Latest Inspection

Summary of key findings for parents and pupils

This is an outstanding school.

The headteacher, ably supported by senior leaders and governors, constantly strives to achieve the very best for the pupils. This leads to outstanding practice. Leaders have excellent systems to check how well each pupil is doing.

This helps them to intervene quickly if a pupil starts to fall behind. As a result, all pupils make good or better progress from their different starting points. There is a culture of continuous improvement.

The headteacher has developed strong links with other schools to enable staff to share their excellent practice and benefit from strengths elsewhere. Teaching is outstanding. Staff know eac...h pupil as an individual and carefully plan to meet their needs so that learning progresses well.

Specialist teaching in music, French, science and mathematics enhances pupils' experiences and contributes to excellent standards of achievement. Pupils enjoy coming to school because the curriculum is stimulating. Teachers ensure that everyone can access the wide range of exciting opportunities which help pupils develop a love of learning.

Leaders are not afraid to try new ideas to improve teaching and learning. For example, they have identified that procedures for marking and feedback could be even more effective. They are rightly testing new approaches to identify what will work best for the pupils, but at the moment there is a lack of consistency.

Behaviour is outstanding. Pupils are respectful and look out for each other. In lessons they concentrate hard and try their best.

Pupils are looked after extremely well. Relationships across the school are warm and trusting so that pupils feel safe and secure. Systems to help keep pupils safe are robust.

The Early Years Foundation Stage is outstanding. Children get off to a very good start because adults ensure children are well cared for. As a result they develop their confidence and learn to respect others.

Children's attitudes to learning are very positive and staff have high expectations of achievement. Consequently children make excellent progress and are well prepared for Year 1.

Information about this school

The school is smaller than the average-sized primary school.

There are four classes altogether. The majority of pupils are taught in mixed-age classes. Reception children are taught in a single-age class, attending full time.

The majority of pupils are of White British heritage. The proportion of disabled pupils and those who have special educational needs is below average. The proportion of pupils for whom the pupil premium grant provides support is well below the national average.

This funding is used to support pupils in the care of the local authority and those who are known to be eligible for free school meals. The school meets the current government floor standards, which set the minimum expectation for pupils' attainment and progress. Teachers give their time to provide a range of extra activities for pupils before and after school.

The school is part of the Canterbury Collaboration of nine schools, in which the headteacher plays a lead role. The headteacher is a local leader of education and has supported Bapchild and Tonge Primary and Lansdowne School in this role. The school works collaboratively with the independent sector through its link with King's School, Canterbury.

The school trains teachers through its partnership with an initial teaching training group. There was a Church Inspection of the school, under Section 48 of the Education Act 2005, in June 2012. This judged the school's provision to be outstanding.