St Peter’s Church of England Primary School Whetstone

Highlights from Latest Inspection

What is it like to attend this school?

The school mission statement of 'inspiring our children, enriching their academic journey and achieving excellence' is consistently demonstrated in the actions of staff. Parents and carers say that the school feels like a community. They typically comment that their children enjoy attending school and sharing what they have learned when they return home each day.

Pupils throughout the school form positive relationships with staff. They are able to talk about the value of education. One pupil said that they like St Peter's because 'teachers encourage you to keep learning'.

Pupils live up to the school's high expectations in relation to what they learn and how they cond...uct themselves. They say they rarely have worries but they have trusted adults with whom they would share any concerns. Pupils feel safe.

They value the support and care that adults at the school provide.

Pupils benefit from a range of wider opportunities. They enjoy taking part in football and dodgeball clubs.

Pupils learn to play musical instruments, including the ukulele, violin and guitar. Visitors build on pupils' learning in the classroom, such as an actor telling the story of Florence Nightingale. Residential trips for older pupils help to build their confidence and resilience.

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

The curriculum is ambitious and sets out, in detail, the knowledge and skills that pupils should learn. The early years curriculum is similarly well sequenced and helps to ensure that children are ready for Year 1. Staff know exactly what to teach and when.

There are deliberate connections in the planned curriculum between different subjects to enable pupils to see the relevance of what they learn to their lives beyond school.

Teachers break learning down for pupils into manageable chunks. They model how to think effectively about the subjects they teach.

Sometimes, teachers skilfully help pupils to connect previous and current learning. On occasions, teachers do not provide pupils with tasks that are precisely matched to what pupils already know.

In the early years, staff talk to children with a deliberate focus on the knowledge and skills that children should learn.

This helps children to build their knowledge. They proudly share their writing and mathematical understanding.

Assessment systems are in place in all subjects to check pupils' understanding.

In some subjects, these systems are being improved so that teachers can more precisely identify what pupils know and understand. In most subjects, pupils develop secure knowledge. They can confidently share their learning.

For example, they can talk about the causes of the First World War, different artistic techniques and the skills that they learn in physical education (PE) lessons. However, some pupils are much less certain about their learning in a small number of other subjects. When this is the case, they are less able to recall learning from previous terms and academic years.

Reading is a priority. Children begin to learn to read as soon as they start school. They develop their knowledge of sounds and how to blend those sounds to help read words and sentences.

Children read books matched to the sounds they are familiar with to help them become more fluent readers. Pupils learn about the skills of reading, such as inference and prediction. They are knowledgeable about the books they read with their teachers each day.

The needs of pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND) are promptly identified. This was not always the case previously. Teachers receive the information they need to support these pupils.

Staff use a range of strategies so that pupils with SEND can learn the same important knowledge as their peers.

Staff and pupils are familiar with the systems to encourage good behaviour. Staff apply the school rules consistently.

Pupils respect one another and staff.

Pupils value the school's focus on respecting others. They learn about faiths and beliefs different from their own.

Pupils become active citizens by taking part in a community project focused on graffiti and by being involved in choosing the endangered animal that the school has adopted. Pupils know the school values, including respect, compassion and trust. They are not as familiar with key terms and definitions related to British values.

The school has a shared vision based on inclusion and community. Staff are overwhelmingly positive about working at the school. They say that their workload is manageable and that leaders care about their well-being.

The trust provides a range of support and training opportunities that staff take up and value. Some checks on the quality of the curriculum and of the provision for pupils' personal development are not yet rigorous enough to identify precisely what improvements need to take place.

Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.

What does the school need to do to improve?

(Information for the school and appropriate authority)

• On occasion, teachers do not precisely match the tasks that pupils complete to what pupils already know. As a result, pupils are not always able to build their knowledge as securely as they could. The school should ensure that teachers know how best to select the most effective strategies to help pupils build their knowledge.

Some checks on the curriculum and on the provision for pupils' personal development lack the necessary rigour. When this is the case, these checks do not help to inform what the next steps are to improve the provision further. The school should ensure that checks on the quality of provision have the necessary precision and focus to provide the right information that will help to bring about further improvement to pupils' experiences of school and of learning.