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Pupils are proud of their extremely inclusive school.
The diversity of the school's population is celebrated and pupils broaden their horizons each day as they hear about different cultures and faiths. The many pupils and their families who speak English as an additional language are warmly welcomed and supported well. The values of love, kindness and tolerance are at the heart of school life.
There are high expectations set for pupils' learning and behaviour. Across most of the curriculum, pupils achieve well. They listen carefully and work hard in their lessons.
At break and lunchtimes, pupils enjoy playing games and chatting with friends across year groups.... The school staff are kind and nurturing. Pupils feel safe and happy as part of the school's caring family.
The school's pastoral team offer a wide range of support. This offer extends to whole families as well as their children. It includes access to in-school therapeutic support as well as information about external services.
Pupils understand the benefits of living a healthy lifestyle through their diet, physical activity, and emotional well-being.
Parents and carers appreciate their regular invitations to school events. These include informative workshops about phonics, mathematics, and online safety.
Parents value the clear and comprehensive information they receive from the school through regular newsletters and year-group knowledge organisers.
What does the school do well and what does it need to do better?
The school has a high number of pupils who speak English as an additional language and pupils who arrive at the school not having started there in Nursery or Reception. Information about pupils' needs and previous school experience is gathered quickly and used to shape appropriate support.
This includes pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities. In lessons, pupils have access to the equipment and adult help that they need to ensure that they learn well. For example, in mathematics pupils use a range of helpful resources with confidence and independence.
The school's 'Nest' provision provides individual pupils with a high level of support across the breadth of the curriculum.
The school ensures that in every subject there is a clear sequence of learning. This means that teachers know what to teach and in what order.
This is carefully thought through from the very start of learning in Nursery and Reception. Decisions about curriculum content are made with pupils' interests at heart. For example, the school has made recent changes to the writing curriculum.
This has been carefully considered as a result of in-depth analysis about pupils' achievements and what they need to strengthen their written outcomes. For example, pupils are successful when applying what they have learned about grammar to their writing. However, they do not consistently benefit from work and explanations which help them to build their knowledge of other aspects of writing.
Therefore, pupils do not achieve as well as they could.
Pupils become confident and skilled readers. School staff are trained in teaching pupils to read using a phonics-based approach.
Pupils have regular reading opportunities and apply their phonics learning well, reading with increasing fluency. They benefit from the wide range of text types and genres they encounter across the curriculum. Parents receive a wealth of information so that they know how to support their child with practising their reading at home.
Pupils who need extra help are supported well to strengthen their reading.
The school develops pupil's spoken language and vocabulary. This starts in Nursery and Reception, where children listen to wide a range of stories and nursery rhymes.
They enjoy joining in with familiar refrains and learning the meaning of ambitious vocabulary. In all lessons, across the school, teaching staff model and explain subject-specific vocabulary. Pupils benefit from many opportunities to debate their learning in partner and small-group work, as well as contributing to class discussions.
Pupils behave well because they know the school rules and expectations. Visual timetables help them to know what is happening throughout the school day. They follow instructions quickly and calmly.
Pupils concentrate and do not disrupt others' learning. They show resilience and know that making mistakes is a healthy part of the learning process. The school's work to reduce pupils' absence rates has been successful.
The school considers pupils' personal development well. Pupils learn about a wide range of faiths and cultures. They show empathy and understanding to others.
The school offers an interesting and varied range of after-school clubs and enrichment opportunities. Pupils enjoy trips and visits, which enhance their learning across the curriculum. For example, pupils visit local museums to enhance their history learning about the Victorian era.
The trust and governing body are well informed about the school. They understand its unique context well. They provide appropriate support and healthy challenge to school leaders.
The trust and governing body recognise the importance of assuring themselves about the school's safeguarding procedures, including those for pupils who attend alternative provision. School staff appreciate their wide range of professional training and development opportunities and the processes to look after their well-being.
Safeguarding
The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.
What does the school need to do to improve?
(Information for the school and appropriate authority)
• Teachers do not always have the subject and pedagogical knowledge they need to teach all aspects of the recently updated writing curriculum. As a result, there are occasions when the activities that teachers provide pupils with do not help them to build their writing skills as well as they could. The school should ensure that teachers have the knowledge they need to successfully teach all aspects of the writing curriculum so that pupils achieve well.
