East Crompton St George’s CofE School

Highlights from Latest Inspection

What is it like to attend this school?

East Crompton St George's primary school is a friendly and welcoming place. Pupils are happy, feel safe and enjoy coming to the school.

They are proud of the family atmosphere. Pupils value the education they receive and talk with pride about how much they learn. The school's mission statement is known by all.

Pupils can explain how they are able to 'let our lights shine' in all aspects of their education.

The school promotes pupils' personal development well. Pupils are taught the importance of resilience.

This helps them to develop as learners. Pupils enjoy the roles and responsibilities that they hold across the school. They understand the importa...nce of showing love and helping others, in their school and the wider world.

Pupils also speak about how much they enjoy the many clubs that are available after school.

Pupils behave well. They say that they are listened to and treated fairly.

Pupils say that bullying is rare. If it did happen, they know leaders would sort it out.

Leaders have made many improvements to the quality of education.

They have high expectations for most pupils. However, expectations for children in Reception are not high enough.

What does the school do well and what does it need to do better?

The headteacher's actions since her appointment have led to significant and rapid improvements.

This has resulted in many changes to staffing and leadership at the school. Despite this, leaders have made sure that pupils' achievement continues to improve.

Leaders have high expectations of pupils and staff.

Staff share leaders' aspiration to provide the best for pupils. Leaders care about the staff's well-being. They have considered this when making improvements to the curriculum.

Staff appreciate the support and training that they receive. Many subject leaders are new to role. They receive strong support from leaders and the trust.

The top priority for leaders and staff is to teach pupils to read. As soon as pupils start at the school, they begin to learn phonics. Staff have received recent training and they are confident in teaching phonics.

Staff make sure that support is given to pupils who need to catch up. More pupils are now meeting the expected standard in the Year 1 phonics screening check. However, pupils struggle to read the books that they take home.

This is because the books are not well matched to the phonics that they have been learning.

Teachers have strong subject knowledge in mathematics. They plan lessons well to build on what pupils already know.

This helps pupils to practise what they know before they learn new things. In 2019, Year 6 pupils achieved well in mathematics compared to other pupils nationally.

Leaders have planned a curriculum which makes sure that pupils learn things in a logical order.

This is particularly strong in reading and mathematics, where pupils achieve well by the time they leave Year 6. Leaders have identified the important knowledge they want pupils to remember. Changes to the way that some subjects, such as science, history, geography and design and technology, are taught are also achieving success.

In these subjects, pupils know and can remember more about their recent learning. However, they do not remember some of the key knowledge which was taught in previous years.

The curriculum supports pupils' personal development well.

Pupils know about other cultures, countries and events happening in the world. They show respect for other religions and people who are different to themselves.

Pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND) do not achieve to the best of their abilities.

Leaders have established clear systems and procedures to address this. This is bringing about improvements to the quality of their education. However, leaders need to make sure that they routinely adapt the curriculum to meet the needs of pupils with SEND.

This will help them to achieve well.

Children quickly settle into Reception class. They are happy and keen to learn.

The learning environment inside is well organised and resourced. However, teachers do not plan activities well enough. Activities do not always build on what the children know and can do.

As a result, children do not achieve their potential in the early years.

Leaders' actions and effective systems have improved pupils' attendance and punctuality. In classes and around the school, pupils are polite and kind.

They are keen to hold doors open and help visitors around the school. Most pupils behave well and have good attitudes to learning. There is little disruption to pupils' learning.

Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.

Leaders make sure that pupils are kept safe. Staff and governors receive thorough training.

They report any concerns that arise. Leaders keep careful records of any concerns and take the necessary action to support pupils and their families.

The curriculum ensures that pupils know how to keep safe and be healthy.

Pupils told us that they feel safe. They have a good understanding of what they need to do to stay healthy.

What does the school need to do to improve?

(Information for the school and appropriate authority)

Until recently, teachers did not ensure that lessons built on pupils' previous learning in some subjects.

As a result, pupils do not always remember key knowledge from their previous learning, in subjects such as history, geography and design and technology. Leaders need to embed recent changes to ensure that pupils know and remember more in subjects across the curriculum. Ofsted's transition arrangements were used on this inspection to confirm that pupils benefit from a good quality of education.

. Pupils' home reading books are not always matched well to the phonics they are learning in school. As a result, pupils struggle to read the books fluently.

Teachers need to make sure that books are well matched to pupils' phonic knowledge. This will help to further develop pupils' early reading skills, fluency and comprehension. .

Many systems and processes for pupils with SEND have only recently been implemented. Some of these pupils do not always acquire the knowledge they need well enough. Leaders should ensure that they check the impact of their work in this area.

This will help to provide a good quality of education for pupils with SEND, so they achieve well. . Staff expectations of children in Reception are not sufficiently high.

This means that children do not do as well as they could. Leaders should ensure that staff build on what the children know and can do. This will help children to be ready for the demands of the Year 1 curriculum.