Raughton Head CofE School & Nursery

Highlights from Latest Inspection

Summary of key findings for parents and pupils

This is a good school The focused and effective leadership of the headteacher has led to considerable improvements.

This can be seen across all aspects of the school's work. Children get off to a flying start in early years. They make good progress across all areas of learning.

Phonics is taught well. Younger pupils read and confidently pronounce sounds and write the letters these sounds represent. Pupils behave exceptionally well.

They are very respectful towards each other and adults around them. They have extremely positive attitudes to learning and say they feel safe. Attendance is higher than the national average.

This reflects how much ...pupils enjoy coming to school. Stronger teaching means pupils are making better progress than they have in the past. However, older pupils are still filling the gaps in their learning from previously weaker teaching.

Governors have a good understanding of the strengths and areas for further improvement. They are developing their skills to assess accurately how well the school is doing. A culture of reading for pleasure has been embedded across the school.

Children and older pupils enjoy fiction and non-fiction books. The quality of teaching is good. Gaps in pupils' knowledge, skills and understanding are identified and activities planned accordingly.

Pupils gain a good understanding of number and calculations. Older pupils have the confidence to explain how they solve mathematical problems. Whole-school approaches to the development of writing are in place.

However, pupils' spelling remains an area for improvement. Writing in subjects other than English is not always as good as it could be. Subject leaders have settled well into their roles.

However, some are at an early stage in bringing about improvements in their areas of responsibility in subjects other than English, mathematics and science. The headteacher has implemented an effective new curriculum policy and new assessment procedure across the school. Parents and carers speak very positively about the many improvements that the headteacher and staff team have implemented.

Information about this school

Raughton Head is smaller than the average primary school. The proportion of disadvantaged pupils is lower than the national average. The proportion of pupils with SEND is lower than average.

The vast majority of pupils are White British. A new headteacher was appointed in September 2018. The school's most recent Statutory Inspection of Anglican and Methodist Schools (SIAMS) under section 48 was on 14 May 2015.