Vale View Primary School

Highlights from Latest Inspection

What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils are happy at this supportive school. Pupils, including those with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND), develop positive relationships with caring staff who know them well.

This helps them to feel safe. That said, too many pupils do not attend school regularly enough. This prevents them from achieving as well as they should.

Pupils have positive attitudes to learning and work hard in their lessons. They are starting to benefit from an improved curriculum and leaders' higher expectations of what they can achieve. In spite of this, some pupils who fall behind with reading, do not receive the support that they need to catch up.

Pupils know... that leaders expect them to behave well. Pupils said that behaviour has improved recently. Although they reported occasional problems such as arguments and incidents of name-calling on the playground, pupils are confident that they will be dealt with appropriately by staff.

Pupils recognise that bullying is wrong, and they understand that respect is important. They explained that staff will listen when they report any concerns and do their best to stop incidents of bullying.

Pupils appreciate the wide range of extra school activities on offer, including dance, knitting, science club and football.

Pupils are proud of their work to raise funds for charities. However, pupils lack enough opportunities to learn about the wider world, including developing their understanding of different cultures and important concepts such as democracy.

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

Leaders are in the process of reviewing the curriculum to ensure that it is suitably broad and sufficiently ambitious for all pupils, including pupils with SEND.

Until recently, leaders have not ensured that the curriculum has been ambitious enough. This has prevented pupils from achieving as well as they should.

In some subjects, such as mathematics, leaders are clear about the knowledge that pupils need to learn and the order in which they should learn it.

In these subjects, leaders provide clear guidance about what to teach and when to teach it. This helps teachers to design learning that builds on pupils' earlier knowledge.

In some other subjects, leaders are not clear enough about what pupils, including children in the early years, should know.

This hinders teachers from presenting subject content in a logical order to help pupils gain key knowledge. It also prevents leaders from checking that pupils know and remember their earlier learning. In addition, some subject leaders do not provide support for teachers to deliver curriculums well.

This hampers teachers in their efforts to design learning. Consequently, pupils do not achieve as well as they should in these subjects.Leaders have reviewed the early reading curriculum and have set out what they want pupils, including children in the early years, to learn and when they will learn this knowledge.

In the Nursery class, staff read to children often. Children enjoy talking about books with staff who help them to notice rhymes and patterns.

As soon as they begin in the Reception class, children learn how to link sounds and letters correctly.

Staff select books for pupils to practise their reading that are matched closely to the sounds that they know. However, some staff have not had the training that they need. This hinders them in their efforts to provide appropriate support for pupils when they fall behind in reading.

Added to this, staff do not provide enough opportunities for pupils to practise reading. This prevents pupils from becoming sufficiently accurate and confident with reading. As a result, not enough pupils can read fluently by the end of Year 2.

Recently, leaders have taken steps to encourage older pupils to read more widely. Older pupils are enthusiastic about the books that they have read together in class.

Pupils with SEND are included fully in the life of the school.

In the specially resourced provision for pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities (specially resourced provision) and the rest of the school, pupils' learning needs are identified accurately and understood by staff. Teachers carefully shape teaching approaches to help these pupils access the same curriculum as their classmates.

Although pupils show respect to each other and the staff, they do not benefit from a personal development curriculum that helps to develop their understanding of the wider world well enough.

This stops pupils from developing an in-depth understanding of important topics, such as democracy. It hinders their readiness for life in modern Britain.

Leaders have introduced a clear behaviour system that is understood by pupils and used consistently by staff.

Leaders have made sure that staff are well trained to deal with any challenging behaviour in a sensitive and constructive way. This helps to minimise any disruption to pupils' learning. Some pupils who have struggled to manage their own behaviour in the past have been supported well to overcome their difficulties.

Leaders have taken steps to improve pupils' attendance. However, leaders lack sufficient awareness of the reasons why pupils do not attend school regularly enough. This prevents leaders from ensuring that pupils and their families receive the support that they need to improve their attendance.

Members of the governing body are not well informed about the quality of education and other important aspects of the school, such as pupils' rates of attendance. This prevents governors from being able to challenge leaders fully and hold them to account effectively.

Staff appreciate that leaders are considerate of their workload and well-being.

Staff, including teachers at the early stages of their careers, value the support that they receive from their mentors.

Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.

Leaders arrange regular training for staff so that they can remain alert to the signs that might indicate that a pupil is at risk from harm.

This includes raising staff's awareness of peer-on-peer abuse and sexual harassment.

Leaders are aware of the challenges faced by vulnerable pupils and their families. Leaders work well with a range of other agencies to access the help that these pupils and their families need.

Pupils develop their understanding of how to keep themselves safe. For example, they learn about road safety and how to stay safe online.

What does the school need to do to improve?

(Information for the school and appropriate authority)

• Leaders have not ensured that pupils who fall behind in reading benefit from the support that they need from appropriately trained staff to help them to catch up.

This means that too many pupils lack fluency and confidence in reading by the end of Year 2. This also hinders these pupils' development of comprehension skills and a love of reading as they progress through school. Leaders should make sure that pupils, particularly those who struggle the most with reading, receive appropriate support to catch up quickly.

• Leaders' expectations of what pupils should know are not clear enough in some subjects. This hinders teachers when designing learning for pupils and prevents pupils from achieving well. It also prevents leaders from checking that pupils know and remember the important content of subject curriculums.

Leaders should ensure that they finalise what pupils should know and remember in these subjects from the early years to Year 6 so that pupils deepen their knowledge and develop their understanding over time. ? Some subject leaders do not provide sufficient guidance for teachers to deliver the curriculum effectively. This means that some subject curriculums are not implemented well by teachers.

Senior leaders should provide effective support for subject leaders so that they can help teachers in their delivery of the curriculum to ensure that pupils gain the knowledge that they need for future success. ? Leaders have not kept a close track of the attendance of pupils. This prevents staff from taking appropriate actions to support an improvement in the attendance of some pupils.

As a result, too many pupils do not attend school as regularly as they should. Leaders should ensure that they keep a regular check on pupils' attendance. Leaders should also support staff to understand the barriers that pupils and their families face so that these pupils receive the support they need to attend school more regularly.

• Leaders do not provide enough opportunities to extend pupils' personal development. As a result, pupils do not develop a sufficiently deep understanding of important aspects of the wider world, such as diversity, democracy and people's rights and responsibilities. Leaders should ensure that pupils gain a stronger understanding of these key aspects so that they are better prepared for life in modern Britain.

• Members of the governing body have not ensured that they are well informed about the quality of education. This means that they are unable to hold leaders to account as well as they should. Governors should ensure that they have the information that they need to hold leaders to account for pupils' achievement across the curriculum and the approach that leaders take to educate pupils about equality.

Also at this postcode