St George’s CofE School

Highlights from Latest Inspection

What is it like to attend this school?

St George's is a warm and friendly school.

The corridors beautifully celebrate the ethos of the school and the pupils' work. Staff know pupils and their families well. They look after pupils and make sure they feel safe and happy.

Pupils receive positive recognition when they demonstrate the school values through their everyday actions. They wear their 'star badges' with pride. Pupils understand that everyone is equal: 'We are all different, but we are all human'.

This is evident in the way that they treat others in school.

Leaders from across the trust are aspirational for every pupil to achieve their full potential. Trust and school leaders work to...gether to ensure that all pupils have access to an ambitious curriculum that enables pupils to achieve well.

Pupils embrace opportunities to contribute to their school. They become reading ambassadors, members of the school council or young translators. Peer mentors take their duties seriously and have a valuable role in supporting other children at playtime.

Pupils say that when bullying happens, their teachers deal with it well. They say that they have trusted adults they can talk to if they have a problem. Pupils say they enjoy school and understand how to keep themselves safe, including online.

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

The school has adopted an ambitious curriculum that provides pupils with the knowledge and skills they need for the next stage of their education. The curriculum is carefully sequenced for all pupils, and assessment tasks help teachers to identify pupils who need additional support. However, some subjects have had more attention than others.

This means that, sometimes, the work that pupils are asked to complete is not well matched to the intended learning.

Phonics is of the highest priority. Teaching begins in the Nursery Year, where children learn songs and rhymes and enjoy listening to stories.

All staff have been trained well to teach phonics, and it is taught consistently well across all groups. Effective checking procedures quickly identify pupils who have fallen behind, which is then addressed swiftly. The books that pupils read match the sounds they have learned.

This supports them in becoming confident, fluent readers by the end of Year 2. The school library has recently been refurbished. Pupils are encouraged to read a wide variety of books and are given opportunities to read in class.

They are expected to use the vocabulary modelled by teachers, and they do.

Pupils get off to a good start in the early years. The curriculum is well designed, and clear thought has been given to the small steps in learning.

The outdoor environment matches the high quality of the indoors. Children learn important skills, including how to work together and follow instructions, through purposeful tasks such as working out how to cross a puddle without getting their feet wet.

Pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND) are identified quickly and supported effectively.

Staff know the pupils well and make use of additional teaching sessions to help pupils who need to catch up. As a result, pupils with SEND make good progress.

Recently, there has been an increase in pupils joining the school who are new to English.

The school makes sure that these pupils feel included from the very start. Young translators are used to help pupils settle into school life. However, there is not a consistent approach to teaching these pupils the English language.

Pupils who are new to English successfully decode written words but do not understand what they are reading. They also do not understand the meaning of the spellings they take home. This means that this group of pupils are not developing their understanding as well as they could be.

Pupils benefit from a range of clubs, including bell ringing, Lego and tag rugby. Pupils also take part in a range of experiences that enhance the curriculum, including visits to places of worship. During the inspection, pupils spoke excitedly to inspectors about taking part in a choral experience.

The school has high expectations for pupils' attendance. Most pupils attend well. There are clear actions in place to support pupils to improve attendance and come to school every day, such as a school minibus service.

These actions are having a positive impact on these pupils, and attendance figures have significantly improved.

Leaders and governors know the school well. Staff are proud to work at the school and describe themselves as a 'family'.

They value the way that leaders consider their workload, and they value also the support and development they receive from the school and colleagues across the trust. Parents are positive about the work of the school.

Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.

What does the school need to do to improve?

(Information for the school and appropriate authority)

• Some subjects are not as well embedded as others. This means that the work pupils are asked to complete is not always well matched to the intended learning. The school should ensure that it continues to develop these subjects so that the learning of pupils is of equally high quality in all subjects.

• Pupils who are new to English are not developing their understanding as well as they could be. This is because the school has not given enough thought to how it will teach these pupils words and their meaning. The school should ensure that it continues to develop induction strategies so that there is a clear plan for acquisition of the English language for this group of pupils.