Abingdon Primary School

Highlights from Latest Inspection

What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils at Abingdon Primary School enjoy coming to school.

Staff warmly welcome pupils into school each day. Pupils, including pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND), said that they feel safe and happy in school.Following a period of change, the school has raised its expectations of what pupils can and should achieve.

Pupils achieve increasingly well in some subjects. However, weaknesses in how well the curriculum is designed and delivered mean that some pupils do not develop a deep body of knowledge over time. They do not achieve as well as they should.

Pupils, including children in the early years, engage fully in their lessons. Pup...ils conduct themselves well around the school. The school's values of 'respect, responsibility and resilience' underpin pupils' behaviour and attitudes.

Disruption to pupils' learning and misbehaviour at social times are rare. Pupils trust adults to deal with any incidents of misbehaviour quickly.Pupils take full advantage of the wide range of activities that the school provides for them alongside the academic curriculum.

For example, they enjoyed visiting a local country park, a museum and performing with the school choir at a recent music festival.The school enhances pupils' knowledge of the wider world, for instance by inviting members of the local community into school. Pupils enjoy listening to these visiting guest speakers, such as police officers, a local MP and representatives of local societies.

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

This school is emerging from a prolonged period of instability in terms of its leadership. However, over the past year, the leadership of the school has become more stable. This has helped to facilitate many improvements to the quality of education for pupils.

In those subjects prioritised for development, the school has given careful thought to the important knowledge that pupils should learn. In these subjects, staff order learning logically so that pupils can build securely on what they know already. This is helping pupils to be better prepared for the next stage of their education.

In other subjects, however, the school has not ensured that the knowledge that pupils should learn is clear enough to staff. In these subjects, staff, including in the early years, are less well equipped to design appropriate learning. As a result, some pupils, including some with SEND, do not learn as well as they should.

In some subjects, the school ensures that teachers receive the support that they need to deliver the curriculum with confidence. Nonetheless, the school has not ensured that some staff, including those in the early years, are suitably trained to deliver aspects of the curriculum well in other subjects. This means that, in these subjects, some staff do not choose the most appropriate activities to help pupils to learn the intended curriculum.

This hinders pupils in building a secure body of subject knowledge.In those subjects where the school is clear about what pupils should learn, staff use assessment strategies skilfully to check that pupils have understood earlier concepts before introducing new ideas. However, this is not the case in those subjects where the school is still developing the curriculum.

This means that, in these subjects, some pupils struggle to apply aspects of their prior learning.The school has prioritised the teaching of reading from the early years to Year 6. Pupils, and children in the early years, read widely and often.

They enjoy being read to by their class teachers regularly.The school has ensured that there is a suitable phonics programme in place. Pupils practise their reading using books that closely match the sounds that they have learned.

Those pupils who struggle to keep up in reading receive extra help from staff. As a result, most pupils become confident and fluent readers by the end of Year 2.The school has implemented effective systems to identify the additional needs of pupils with SEND.

These pupils are fully involved in all aspects of school life. However, some teachers do not use the information that the school provides to adapt their delivery of the curriculum to meet the needs of some pupils with SEND. This hinders how well some pupils with SEND achieve.

Pupils, including children in the early years, are friendly and respectful towards each other and to adults. Pupils work hard in their lessons, and they move around school in a calm and orderly fashion. The school has ensured that pupils' rates of attendance have improved.

This is due to the strategies that the school has implemented to help pupils to understand the importance of attending school regularly.The school places a strong emphasis on fostering pupils' wider personal development. Pupils learn how to keep themselves physically and mentally healthy, and they learn how to stay safe online.

They told inspectors that everybody is treated with kindness in their school, regardless of the differences between people, such as race, religion or family structure.The school is committed to developing pupils' wider knowledge and sense of responsibility. For example, pupils are encouraged to attend events to celebrate diversity, to raise money for charity and to perform or participate in competitions.

Pupils take part in a wide range of clubs, such as chess, cookery and gardening. They are proud to take up positions of responsibility as reading and sports ambassadors. These experiences help pupils to develop their independence and to broaden their horizons.

Many governors are new to their roles. However, they have quickly ensured that they have the knowledge and expertise to hold the school to account and provide support when necessary. For example, those responsible for governance have supported the school to make appropriate changes to the curriculum.

The school makes use of available opportunities to engage parents and carers in school life, for example through phonics workshops and coffee mornings. This ensures that parents feel involved in, and are supportive of, their children's education.Staff told inspectors that the school is mindful of their workload and well-being.

They appreciate the support that leaders provide for them, and they feel valued. For instance, leaders provide staff with guidance and support to help them to further develop their subject knowledge.

Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.

What does the school need to do to improve?

(Information for the school and appropriate authority)

• In a number of subjects, the school has not ensured that the specific building blocks of knowledge are clear enough to teachers. In these subjects, teachers are hindered in designing learning that supports pupils to build logically on what they already know. The school should ensure that teachers are clear about the essential knowledge that pupils should learn.

• Some staff, including in the early years, have not received the support and training that they need to deliver aspects of the curriculum with confidence. This prevents some staff from choosing the most appropriate activities to help pupils to learn the intended curriculum. The school should ensure that staff are supported well to design appropriate learning for pupils.

• In subjects that are less well developed, the school's assessment strategies do not enable teachers to check how well pupils are learning the curriculum. This means that pupils struggle to apply what they have learned previously to new concepts. As the school finalises the curriculums in these subjects, it should ensure that teachers are fully equipped to check on pupils' prior learning.

• The school does not ensure that some staff adapt the delivery of the curriculum for pupils with SEND consistently well. This hinders how well some pupils with SEND learn the curriculum and develop their independence. The school should ensure that staff are supported to use the information available to them to meet these pupils' needs.