Cuddington Community Primary School

Highlights from Latest Inspection

Summary of key findings for parents and pupils

This is a good school The headteacher and senior leaders have been resolute in their determination to improve the school. An enthusiastic and talented staff team has ensured that standards in teaching and learning are good throughout the school.

Pupils enjoy school and they attend regularly. They appreciate the many exciting activities that extend beyond the school day. Pupils behave well and they are attentive in their lessons.

Pupils in the school's specialist resource centre are skilfully supported and they achieve well. Parents report how happy their children are in their learning. Disadvantaged pupils receive carefully tailored additional support to help ...them to achieve their best.

Teaching helps them to catch up when they fall behind in their learning. There is some variation in the quality of provision. Teaching does not consistently meet the needs of lower-ability pupils or challenge the most able.

Leaders have helpful information about pupils' progress. On occasion, they do not use their information precisely enough by supporting teachers with further strategies to adapt classroom provision. Children in the Reception class develop strong skills in communication, reading, writing and number.

They enjoy rich learning experiences that help them to make progress across all areas of their curriculum. Pupils say that they always feel safe at school They are taught to keep themselves safe. Pupils trust the adults to help them if they have any concerns.

The school is effectively supported by The Howard Partnership Trust to which it belongs. Staff within the school have welcomed the helpful training that the trust has provided to develop their expertise further. Highly committed local governors maintain an effective overview of the school.

They challenge leaders to ensure that all pupils learn and achieve successfully. Leaders have successfully improved pupils' rates of progress in English and mathematics. The wider curriculum subjects engage pupils' interests.

However, teachers do not make enough links across these fully to support pupils' achievement.

Information about this school

The school is smaller than the average-sized primary school with one class in each year group. It has a specialist resource provision for pupils with communication and interaction difficulties, The Jubilee Centre.

This caters for 14 pupils who are placed by the local authority as a result of an education, health and care (EHC) plan . The school converted to become an academy on 1 July 2016. Currently it is one of 11 schools within The Howard Partnership Trust, which is a Surrey-based MAT.

An extended period of staff turbulence began before the school's conversion. The school currently has a more settled staffing position. The school has a higher proportion of pupils who have an EHC plan than is typically found in most primary schools.

It has a lower percentage of pupils who are identified as needing school support for their SEND. The percentage of disadvantaged pupils is lower than the national average. The proportion of pupils who speak English as an additional language is below that found nationally.

The proportion from minority ethnic backgrounds is above average. The school has a slightly higher percentage of pupil movement than other primary schools. Much of this has been in the upper key stage 2 classes.

The school is governed by a local governing body (LGB) that is accountable to committees of the MAT's board of trustees. Through the LGB, trustees oversee the school's finances, resources and the quality of provision. The MAT provides regular support from an executive headteacher and a senior leader who extends the school's expertise for teaching and learning in mathematics.