Lyng Primary School

Highlights from Latest Inspection

Outcome

Lyng Primary School continues to be a good school.

What is it like to attend this school?

A reading bus, a rabbit, residential visits and artefacts all have a place to play in a pupil's learning journey at Lyng Primary School. Staff and pupils apply the motto of 'Learning and growing together'.

Pupils are happy, confident and well behaved.

They are keen to share experiences. Pupils are proud to take on responsibilities, such as being librarians, class ambassadors, school councillors and peer mentors. Bullying is not accepted, and pupils feel safe.

Pupils say that 'teachers are always around to help if you need them.'

Leaders want the very best for every ...pupil in the school. They set high standards for everyone.

Teachers plan interesting and exciting activities. These help pupils develop the specific skills of a subject, for example Lola the writing rabbit and Cyril the historian snail. Pupils work hard and achieve well.

Many parents and carers join in their children's learning through 'Inspire' afternoons.

Pupils enjoy taking part in the wide variety of activities provided for them, both inside and outside the classroom. These range from raising money for charity, playing sports and singing in a choir.

Gorge-walking was a firm favourite of a recent residential visit. Events such as 'aspirations week' add to pupils' enjoyment of school.

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

Leaders, including governors, lead and manage the school well.

One way they do this is by making sure that pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND) are achieving well. The recently introduced learning space, 'The Hive', is helping specific pupils with SEND to learn in a smaller, well-supported environment. The special educational needs coordinator coordinates the work to help all pupils with SEND well and staff know how to help pupils learn.

Leaders know they need to continue to check the impact of the changing provision for pupils with SEND.Leaders recognise the central importance of early reading. Leaders have revamped the teaching of phonics.

In Blossoms, for two-year-olds, and Nursery, adults help children to develop their speaking and listening. They also help pupils to be aware of sounds around them and to hear rhythm and rhyme in stories. In Reception, children get off to a swift start when learning phonics.

Staff use consistent sounds and actions across sessions. From then on, pupils follow a plan that ensures that they learn letters in a helpful sequence.

Pupils hear teachers reading, study texts together as a class and read on their own.

Books are well matched to pupils' reading skills. Leaders use many ideas to help pupils enjoy reading and value its importance. These include a reading bus, reading picnics, 'readers of the week' and author visits.

Leaders have drawn up a curriculum where some subjects are taught across a two-year phase and which links subjects together. For example, topics often combine history with geography and the art of the period. Even so, teachers ensure that they teach the skills and knowledge that each subject requires across a phase.

As a result, pupils understand how their learning fits together. This works appropriately in all subjects. Pupils can recall knowledge and ideas and produce work of high quality.

Leaders have just brought in a new way of assessing pupils' learning in foundation subjects. This has the potential to help teachers further refine planning sequences to secure even deeper learning because they are checking how well pupils are learning within each year, as well as across a two-year period.

In history, use of technology gives Year 6 pupils an experience of what it was like to be a Victorian child working in the mine.

They share how it might look, sound and feel in the mine as a blast happened in a nearby shaft, for example 'I would feel burned pain and my lungs running out of air' and 'I can touch the damp floor; the dust; the chains around my waist.'

Pupils learn about other faiths and cultures. A parent said, 'I like the diversity in the school.'

They said they appreciate that staff help pupils to know 'that we are all human and can learn together'.

Children in the early years get off to a good start and become confident learners. This is across all three settings: Blossoms (for two-year-olds), Nursery and Reception.

Caring relationships exist between staff and children of all ages. The new early years leader has a strong vision of what makes effective early years practice and learning. Staff have quickly taken this vision and practice on board.

The recently overhauled learning environments are well thought out. They support children's learning well. There is scope for helping adults to further develop the way they interact with children and to extend and deepen children's learning.

Language development is at the core of learning. Adults develop children's early mathematical skills using rhymes, songs and practical resources.

Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.

There is a strong culture of safeguarding in the school. This is because leaders and governors take safeguarding seriously. Staff are well trained and know how to keep children safe.

Staff have a good understanding of issues that pupils face in the local community. A dedicated pastoral team supports staff, pupils and families well.

Pupils know how to keep themselves safe in different situations.

They talk about the learning that had stuck with them from 'safeguarding week'. This included basic first aid, the recovery position, road safety, cycling safety and the sensible use of social media.

What does the school need to do to improve?

(Information for the school and appropriate authority)

As yet, teachers are not using the new assessment system to its full potential.

This means that opportunities to deepen pupils' learning even further are inconsistent. Teachers need to use the new system to check pupils' learning and understanding in foundation subjects. They should then use this information to decide whether pupils need to revisit the work and secure their learning or move to work that is increasingly difficult.

Leaders and staff should use the assessment information to make sure that the planned curriculum is delivered effectively. . The new early years leader has supported staff to make changes to the environment and their practice.

These changes are very recent and are not yet fully embedded. This means that adults do not always make the most of opportunities to support, challenge and extend children's learning. Leaders need to continue to develop early years staff's knowledge and expertise in maximising the use of the whole environment to extend and deepen children's independence and learning.

. Leaders have recently developed new provision for specific pupils with SEND through The Hive. However, monitoring by leaders is at an early stage of development.

This means that leaders cannot be sure that pupils with SEND continue to access the whole curriculum and that these pupils' needs are well met over time. Leaders need to continue monitoring the impact of the provision for pupils with SEND, both within The Hive and in class, to ensure that these pupils' needs are well met across the curriculum.

Background

When we have judged a school to be good, we will then normally go into the school about once every four years to confirm that the school remains good.

This is called a section 8 inspection of a good school or non-exempt outstanding school. We do not give graded judgements on a section 8 inspection. However, if we find some evidence that the school could now be better than good or that standards may be declining, then the next inspection will be a section 5 inspection.

Usually this is within one to two years of the date of the section 8 inspection. If we have serious concerns about safeguarding, behaviour or the quality of education, we will convert the section 8 inspection to a section 5 inspection immediately.

This is the first section 8 inspection since we judged the school to be good on 10–11 February 2016.