Walton & Lees Hill CofE School

Highlights from Latest Inspection

Main findings

Lees Hill Church of England School is a good school. Care guidance and support are outstanding; pastoral care across the school is strong, so that pupils are confident to ask any adults for help when needed.

Pupils' spiritual, moral, social and cultural development is also outstanding and is evident in their mature and sensitive approach to supporting one another and their participation in lessons and assemblies. The skills and confidence that pupils develop ensure that they are well prepared for life as a young adult. The school provides a rich learning environment in which pupils from the Early Years Foundation Stage to Year 6 say they enjoy school.

Reception children make good progress and... this continues throughout the school. Pupils' attainment at the end of Year 6 is above average in English and mathematics, reflecting good achievement. Due to the small numbers in different year groups there can be some fluctuation in attainment from year to year.

Pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities make similarly good progress; they benefit from extra support or adaptations to tasks so that their needs are met. Teachers use questions effectively to check pupils' learning and to help them extend their language and other skills. Teaching is good.

However, the marking of pupils' work in mathematics and the feedback they receive do not consistently advise pupils on what they have to do to improve their work. Pupils make good progress because the staff plan work well but there are not always enough opportunities for pupils to carry out independent work. The school's excellent curriculum successfully threads English, mathematics and information and communication technology (ICT) throughout different subjects and this is already helping to raise pupils' achievement in writing.

Pupils' contribution to the school and wider community is excellent. They are proud of their school and are keen to help it improve. The school council talks excitedly about the training older pupils have had in order to become play leaders, so that they can help younger pupils enjoy activities at play time in a safe environment.

The headteacher has clearly identified what the school does well and the areas that need developing in order to maintain improvement. The school's accurate self-evaluation of its own performance, based on effective monitoring, has led to recent well-focused developments, such as those in writing, which are successfully improving the school. A strong sense of teamwork and a desire to continue to do better demonstrate that the school has good capacity to sustain its improvement.

Information about the school

This is a smaller than average size school. Most pupils are from White British backgrounds and the school has no pupils who are eligible for a free school meal. The proportion of pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities is above the national average.

Pupils are taught in two classes: Reception with Years 1 and 2 and Years 3, 4, 5 and 6. The number of pupils in each year group can be as low as 3. The school has the Artsmark Gold and the Intermediate International School awards.