Almeley Primary School

Strengths

• Safeguarding standards are met with an open and positive culture where concerns are actively identified and managed.
• Attendance is high and persistent absence is very low, with disadvantaged pupils and pupils with SEND attending well.
• Behaviour is positive and pupils learn in a calm, orderly environment, with restorative practice used effectively.
• Early years provision gives children a strong start, with warm relationships and tailored support for SEND and disadvantaged children.
• Inclusion is effective, with early identification of barriers, precise support plans, reasonable adjustments and well-measured interventions.
• Leadership and governance are accurate, focused and well supported, with robust attendance and safeguarding procedures and effective governor challenge.
• Personal development is strong, including pupil voice, trips, clubs, residentials, diversity education and wellbeing support.
• The curriculum is well sequenced for mixed-age classes and prioritises reading, writing and mathematics, with phonics taught effectively.
• Achievement is improving in key stage 2 reading and mathematics, phonics results are in line with national averages, and younger pupils generally achieve well.

Areas for Improvement

• Achievement at the end of key stage 2 is still too low, especially in combined reading, writing and mathematics.
• Too many older pupils lack secure foundational knowledge in reading, writing and mathematics for their next stage of education.
• Teaching is inconsistent because staff do not always check pupils’ understanding well enough when introducing new content.
• Tasks are not consistently adapted to pupils’ starting points, so challenge can be too high or too low and pupils with SEND sometimes make less progress.
• Some older pupils have gaps in knowledge because recent curriculum improvements have not benefited them fully.
• Writing attainment is variable, and disadvantaged pupils’ outcomes remain below national averages with large gaps in reading, writing and mathematics.
• Occasional early years activities last too long or lack precise learning outcomes, limiting opportunities to extend children’s learning.
• Leaders have started work to improve teaching consistency and achievement, but it is too soon to determine the impact.

• Primary Schools
• Secondary Schools