Galley Common Infant School

Overview

Galley Common Infant School is described as a ‘special place to learn’ where pupils are ‘happy and safe’. The report highlights a ‘broad and balanced curriculum’ and ‘Outstanding’ early years provision, noting that staff are ‘kind, welcoming and knowledgeable’.

Strengths

• Early years provision is ‘Outstanding’, with children getting a ‘flying start’ through exploration and play.
• Staff prioritise reading, using a programme that enables pupils to read with ‘accuracy and fluency’.
• The mathematics curriculum is systematic, helping pupils build ‘mathematical vocabulary’ and understanding over time.
• Pupils with special educational needs or disabilities (SEND) are identified effectively and ‘achieve well’.
• There is a ‘close working relationship between staff and parents’, aiding children’s settlement into school.

Areas to improve

• Some staff do not apply the behaviour policy with consistency, leading to pupils not ‘focusing fully during lessons’.
• The school must recruit new governors to address vacancies that limit the board’s capacity to ‘challenge and support leaders’.

Safeguarding

The report states that ‘the arrangements for safeguarding are effective’.