Stratford Manor Primary School & Nursery

Highlights from Latest Inspection

Summary of key findings for parents and pupils

This is a good school The headteacher's strong and determined leadership, well supported by a team of skilled senior leaders, has improved the quality of teaching and pupils' outcomes.

All aspects of the school's work have improved since the previous inspection. Teachers know their pupils very well. They use assessment information accurately to ensure that, throughout the school, pupils make good progress in reading, writing and mathematics.

Disadvantaged pupils and those who have special educational needs and/or disabilities make strong progress. Additional funding is spent wisely to ensure that these pupils receive good-quality support. Children in the early... years make good progress, particularly in reading, writing and mathematics.

Teachers make learning fun and children enjoy the well-resourced, stimulating classrooms and outdoor areas. The effectiveness of governance has improved. Governors hold leaders to account for the progress that pupils make.

Governors' visits to the school are sharply focused to monitor leaders' actions to improve the quality of teaching and learning continually. Classrooms are calm and purposeful places for pupils to learn. Pupils' behaviour is consistently good throughout the school.

Pupils display positive learning attitudes and respond well to teachers' explanations and instructions. Pupils enjoy a broad curriculum. Music and art are particular strengths of the school's provision and specialist teachers ensure that pupils achieve well in these subjects.

Middle leaders understand the school's strengths and priorities well. However, the work of middle leaders is not yet fully effective in monitoring the quality of teaching and learning in their aspects of the school's work. The school's new strategies for teaching reading and writing are effective but now need to be fully embedded throughout the school.

Pupils' writing has improved. There are many opportunities for pupils to write for a purpose, based on high-quality texts. However, pupils' use of punctuation and grammar when they write independently and at greater length is not consistently good.

Sometimes, teachers' expectations of what the most able pupils can achieve, particularly in writing, are not consistently high.

Information about this school

Manor is larger than the average-sized primary school. The proportion of pupils eligible for free school meals is higher than average.

The proportion of pupils who speak English as an additional language is much higher than the national average; so, too, is the proportion of children from minority ethnic groups. The proportion of pupils who have special educational needs and/or disabilities is average, although the number of pupils with an education, health and care plan is low. The school experiences high pupil mobility.

A larger-than-average proportion of pupils join or leave the school at different times through the year. A small number of pupils receive some of their education at Eleanor Smith School, as well as at this school. The school has received support from a national leader of education.

At the time of this inspection, Year 6 pupils were away from school on a residential trip. The school meets requirements on the publication of specified information on its website. The school meets the government's floor standards, which set the minimum expectations for pupils' achievement in reading, writing and mathematics by the end of Year 6.