Elm Grove Primary School, Worthing

Highlights from Latest Inspection

What is it like to attend this school?

This is a nurturing school where every child is known and nurtured. Many staff, parents and pupils say that the school is 'like one big family'. As one parent reported to inspectors, 'It's a happy place where staff really care about each individual.'

Inspectors found this to be the case.

Pupils are enthusiastic about learning and given the help they need to succeed. Those who need it receive useful extra support.

The school provides a range of different opportunities to broaden pupils' experiences and develop their talents and interests. This includes in the early years, where the youngest children flourish in a carefully considered setting. As a result, pup...ils achieve highly.

Pupils are polite and considerate. They all know and follow the school rules – 'be ready, be safe and be respectful'. Pupils meet the high expectations set by adults.

They play well together and enjoy positive relationships with each other and staff. They are proud of the school's welcoming environment and demonstrate kind and understanding attitudes towards all their peers. As a result, learning is rarely interrupted, bullying is uncommon, and children feel safe and well cared for.

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

Since the previous inspection, the curriculum has been redeveloped. It is ambitious and well thought out across the early years, and key stages 1 and 2. In each subject, the school has considered carefully what it wants pupils to know and the order in which this content will be taught.

This clarity of curriculum thinking means teachers know precisely what to teach and when. Staff skilfully identify pupils' additional needs and make suitable adaptations in response. They work successfully in partnership with outside agencies to make sure pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND) get the help that they need.

This ensures that they can access the same ambitious curriculum as their peers.

In subjects where the curriculum is most established, such as English and mathematics, teaching is effective. Teachers present new learning with clarity, and check pupils' understanding skilfully.

Teachers then use this information to adapt learning and ensure that the work given to pupils builds on what they know. As a result, pupils are able to confidently recall what they have been taught and achieve well.

In a minority of other subjects, the curriculum is in an earlier stage of development.

As a result, teaching can lack precision and pupils do not learn as well as they could. The school is alert to this. In these subjects, investment in resources and training is helping teachers develop the subject knowledge they need to teach with confidence.

Work to develop how adults check pupils' understanding in some subjects is ongoing. Consequently, gaps in pupils' knowledge are not always identified quickly enough.

Pupils attend well.

The school works positively to support families, and to help pupils who need help to further improve their attendence. A clear behaviour policy is commonly understood by all pupils, and staff consistently set high expectations. As a result, classrooms are calm and purposeful environments, where learning is rarely interrupted.

Children in early years learn to read as soon as they start school. The chosen phonics scheme is taught consistently well by suitably trained staff. Teachers make regular checks on pupils' progress in reading.

When teachers identify gaps in pupils' reading knowledge, targeted support ensures that these pupils catch up. Pupils read books that are well matched to the sounds that they know. This helps them to develop fluency in reading.

Pupils benefit from a carefully structured personal, social, health and economic education curriculum. They can confidently articulate how to keep themselves safe online. They understand the importance of learning about different faiths and religions in modern Britain, and they can explain democracy.

Pupils benefit from a range of after-school clubs and engage positively with a growing range of trips and visits. As a result, pupils' curiosity is nurtured, helping pupils to develop personally and socially.

Leaders at all levels demonstrate a relentless commitment to improvement and to providing the best possible education for pupils.

Governors know the school well. They offer well targeted support and challenge and discharge their statutory responsibilities efficiently. All stakeholders praise the school's community ethos.

Notably, staff commend leaders' recent actions to address workload and support their well-being. As a result, there is a palpable sense of 'team' among the staff at this school, where everyone feels valued and proud to work here.

Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.

What does the school need to do to improve?

(Information for the school and appropriate authority)

• Some teachers do not have the subject expertise to teach the newer parts of the curriculum precisely and with confidence. Consequently, pupils do not always learn as well as they could in these subjects. The school should ensure that staff receive the training they need to deliver all parts of the curriculum consistently well.

• Assessment in some subjects is not as effective as it could be. This means teachers do not always identify gaps in pupils' knowledge or check their understanding of the intended curriculum well enough. The school needs to continue its work to develop and embed an approach to assessment that informs teaching, so that it routinely builds on what pupils already know.

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