Linthwaite Clough J I & Early Years Unit

Highlights from Latest Inspection

What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils do not benefit from a curriculum that sufficiently meets their needs. The school's expectations about what pupils should learn and do are too low. Pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND) do not get the support they need to become confident learners.

By the end of early years, children are not ready for their education in Year 1 and beyond.

Leaders have put plans in place to improve the behaviour of pupils in the school. These are beginning to have an impact.

Most pupils treat each other with kindness and respect. However, adults' expectations of how pupils should behave in lessons and around school are not consistent. In some c...lasses, pupils' behaviour disrupts the learning of others.

Bullying is rare. When bullying does happen, adults make sure that it stops. Pupils are happy and safe in this school.

The school provides pupils with many opportunities to explore their interests. Some pupils take part in a dance with Pride in Linthwaite, a community group. Others take part in the sporting opportunities on offer.

Some pupils take a lead as 'well-being warriors', while others work as play leaders at breaktimes. These opportunities help to prepare pupils for their future lives.

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

The school curriculum is not sufficiently ambitious.

The improvements that are taking place in some subjects are not evident elsewhere in the curriculum. In early years, children do not benefit from a curriculum that sets the necessary foundations for future learning. The school has not considered adequately the order in which children should learn new things.

This leads to ineffective learning. In many areas of the curriculum, pupils are not well prepared for the next stage of their education.

The school's curriculum for phonics and early reading is not helping pupils to become confident and fluent readers.

Despite some staff training, phonics is not taught consistently well. In early years, children do not learn new sounds quickly enough. By the end of Year 1, many pupils have not learned the sounds that they need in order to be able to read confidently.

When pupils fall behind, they too often do not receive the help that they need to help them catch up. The school has invested in a range of reading materials for pupils to read for pleasure. However, these books are not consistently matched to pupils' reading abilities.

The school has recently adopted a new curriculum for physical education (PE). Learning is broken down into small steps. Adults use these small steps to help pupils to learn new things and practise new skills.

This is beginning to strengthen pupils' knowledge and skills in PE. However, in most subjects, the school's curriculum does not help pupils to build their knowledge effectively. For example, in geography, pupils do not learn knowledge in an order that helps them to deepen their understanding.

This leads to significant gaps in pupils' knowledge. In many subjects, the tasks that pupils are given to complete contribute weakly to their learning. The school has started to improve its plans to support pupils with SEND.

However, these plans are not implemented or adopted well enough in classrooms. Pupils, including those with SEND, are not achieving well enough in many curriculum subjects.

The school's plans to improve the curriculum in mathematics are at an early stage of development.

The expectations that the school is developing for what pupils should achieve are not applied in every year group. Gaps in pupils' knowledge are being identified, but work to address these gaps has not started.

The curriculum for personal, social, health and economic (PSHE) education helps pupils to understand how to stay safe when online.

They know when personal information should not be shared. However, leaders' ambition for pupils' learning in other aspects of PSHE education has not been fully secured. Pupils have very little understanding of different faiths and cultures.

The curriculum does not help pupils to develop their knowledge about the diverse society in which they live.

Staff and governors care deeply about the pupils and community that the school serves. However, the school has not focused sufficiently on the most important aspects that need to be improved.

The school does not check the impact of work to improve the quality of education well enough.

Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.

Although pupils are safe, the actions that adults take to safeguard pupils are not always recorded.

The school does not routinely check the safety and well-being of pupils who receive some or all of their education elsewhere. When such checks are made, these are not recorded.

These gaps in record-keeping mean that leaders and governors cannot check the impact of the school's work to safeguard pupils.

It also means that any patterns of concern may not be fully identified.

What does the school need to do to improve?

(Information for the school and appropriate authority)

• From early years to Year 6, the quality of education is not preparing pupils for the next stage of their education. Pupils are not developing the knowledge they need in sufficient depth.

The school should ensure that the curriculum from early years to Year 6 is improved so that it prepares all pupils for their future education. ? The curriculum in early years does not provide children, including the most vulnerable, with the foundations that they need to be prepared for Year 1. The school should ensure that the early years curriculum equips children with the knowledge, skills and attributes that they need for Year 1 and beyond.

The tasks that pupils are given too often do not help pupils to secure the knowledge they need. The school should ensure that staff receive the support that they need to select tasks that help pupils to learn intended knowledge. ? Teaching is not adapted sufficiently well to meet the needs of pupils with SEND.

Pupils with SEND do not consistently receive the support that they need to develop their knowledge and understanding. The school should make sure that staff have the training that they need to adapt their teaching successfully to meet the needs of pupils with SEND. ? The school does not check the impact of work to improve the quality of education well enough.

The school should put stronger processes in place to check the quality of education and use these checks to support improvement. ? The school does not check the safety and well-being of pupils who are educated off-site carefully enough. The school should make sure that these checks are routinely made, so that staff are assured that the pupils are safe.

• The school's recording of its work to safeguard pupils is not sufficient. There are many gaps in these records. The school should make sure that safeguarding procedures are tightened, so that concerns and actions are fully and consistently recorded.