Fairhaven Church of England Voluntary Aided Primary School

Overview

Pupils “enjoy school and attend well,” feeling “valued and appreciated” within a community that nurtures their unique talents. The school delivers a “rich and broad” curriculum underpinned by values of “Belief, Friendship, Diversity and Achievement,” with leaders described as “ambitious” and “outward-facing.” Overall, the report presents a positive picture of a school where pupils are “well prepared for the next stage in their education.”

Strengths

• The curriculum is “ambitious” and “well designed to meet pupils’ needs,” allowing learners to make “meaningful links with prior learning.”
• Staff effectively support pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND), ensuring they are “fully included in all aspects of school life.”
• Reading provision is strong, with a “broad reading diet” and a “well-resourced library” that pupils and families appreciate.
• Early years provision is “effective,” preparing children well for Year 1 through opportunities to “share with peers and talk about their learning.”
• Staff feel “valued” due to investment in their development, and the school prioritises the well-being of the whole community.

Areas to improve

• In some subjects, the school has not agreed on how to deliver content, leading to inconsistency as staff use “their own preferred approaches.”
• Pupil behaviour “can vary in lessons, which hampers their learning,” despite the consistent use of the “kind hands, kind words” policy.

Safeguarding

The report states that “the arrangements for safeguarding are effective.”