Toner Avenue Primary School

Overview

Toner Avenue Primary School is described as a place where pupils are “happy and confident” within a “calm and purposeful atmosphere.” The report highlights a “strong team ethos” and notes that there has been a “significant level of improvement in the quality of education” since the previous inspection.

Strengths

• Leaders have developed a “well-sequenced curriculum” with teachers demonstrating “confidence and subject knowledge,” particularly in mathematics where a “mastery approach” is used.
• Reading is a “key priority,” supported by a “well established” phonics programme and a central library that provides “high-quality texts.”
• The special educational needs coordinator provides “highly effective support,” fostering “strong partnerships” with external professionals to meet the needs of pupils with SEND.
• Staff share an ethos that “safeguarding is everything,” with regular training and swift action on concerns ensuring arrangements are “effective.”
• Governors are “knowledgeable” and “effectively challenge and hold leaders to account,” contributing to the school’s development.

Areas to improve

• Teachers do not consistently use assessment information in reading and mathematics to help pupils “catch up quickly” when gaps in learning are identified.
• The early years curriculum lacks explicit opportunities to introduce subject vocabulary needed for Key Stage 1, meaning it is “not aligned well” with later stages.
• The PSHE curriculum does not provide sequenced opportunities for pupils to deepen their understanding of “British values and cultural diversity,” nor does it ensure all groups access extra-curricular activities.

Safeguarding

The report states that “the arrangements for safeguarding are effective,” with staff receiving regular training and leaders acting swiftly on concerns.