St Faith’s Church of England Primary School

Highlights from Latest Inspection

Main findings

This is an outstanding school.

Pupils, parents and carers, with whom it engages exceptionally well, hold it in very high regard. One parent or carer, representing the views of many, wrote, 'St Faith's is like a stick of rock – wherever you cut it you see its core values reflected at the very heart of the community.' Another added, 'St Faith's nurturing and caring ethos has allowed my child to seamlessly join the school.

Not only is he very happy, but also his academic studies have been hugely accelerated and he has made brilliant progress throughout.' Pupils are very eager to learn, thoroughly enjoy attending and behave exceptionally well. The school has dismantled barriers to learning with d...etermination and successfully builds pupils' motivation so that all groups achieve exceptionally well.

Excellent leadership and management have resulted in an extremely positive ethos where all pupils are highly valued. Subject leaders are very successful at sustaining and enhancing the quality of teaching and learning for all groups of pupils. The restructured governing body supports the school very effectively and is playing a pivotal role in strategic management and the cycle of self-review.

Accurate and detailed self-evaluation of the school's performance is used extremely well to highlight any underachievement and to take decisive action to address it. The school improvement plan uses very challenging targets to accelerate the achievement for all groups of pupils. As a result of these positive features, the school has excellent capacity for sustained improvement.

A detailed analysis of the performance data for different groups of pupils and a scrutiny of their work show they make outstanding progress from their starting points at the school and achieve exceptionally well by the end of Year 6. This means the school has successfully ironed out inconsistencies in the rates of progress at Key Stage 1 identified at the previous inspection. Pupils who have special educational needs and/or disabilities are also making outstanding progress against their targets.

This, too, is better than at the time of the previous inspection. Adjustments to the curriculum for children in the Early Years Foundation Stage are also having a positive impact on progress and achievement. All groups are now making consistently good progress and a good number are doing much better than this.

Children are especially successful in personal, social and emotional development and developing basic communication and language skills. Occasionally, however, children do not have enough opportunities to make their own choices to increase their independence and accelerate learning further. Teaching and learning are outstanding overall.

Teachers are excellent at helping pupils develop a clearer understanding of how to improve their work. They have successfully raised the levels of challenge and enjoyment during lessons, actively encouraging pupils of all abilities to work independently or in small groups to solve problems and explore their own ideas. This has been particularly successful in mathematics.

Pupils are fully involved in assessing how well they are doing and setting achievement targets in partnership with their teachers. Pupils are adamant this is very helpful and helps them maintain their rapid progress. The innovative and imaginatively planned curriculum contributes extremely well to pupils' excellent learning and enjoyment.

The impressive range of additional activities enhances pupils' experience of school and captures their enthusiasm for learning. It is very well balanced and there are many effective links between the different areas of learning so that skills learned in numeracy, literacy and information and communication technology are developed very well in other lessons. The school is especially good at modifying the activities to meet the needs of all groups of pupils.

Pupils are extremely well cared for and feel exceptionally safe and secure. Their very positive attitudes to each other, their learning and their determination to succeed are reflected in high levels of attendance. An outstanding range of partnerships with other schools and the wider community makes an excellent contribution to pupils' outstanding achievement and the outstanding care and support they receive.

The school's strong emphasis on promoting healthy lifestyles, recognised in its national award, ensures that pupils have an excellent understanding of how to stay fit and healthy. Pupils show excellent concern for the needs of others and make a major contribution to the local and wider community. For example, they willingly take on responsibilities, are enthusiastic recyclers and, for example, organised a community street party to celebrate the recent Royal Wedding.

However, their understanding of cultural diversity within the United Kingdom is not as well developed.

Information about the school

This is a smaller than average-sized primary school where almost all pupils are of White British heritage. The proportion of pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities varies from year to year but is usually lower than the national average.

Their range of needs includes specific learning needs and behavioural, language and emotional difficulties. The proportion of pupils known to be eligible for free school meals is well below the national average. The school has achieved the enhanced National Healthy Schools Award.