All Saints CofE Primary School and Nursery, Nuneaton

Highlights from Latest Inspection

Outcome

All Saints CofE Primary School and Nursery, Nuneaton continues to be a good school.

What is it like to attend this school?

The school's motto is 'learning for life, building a firm foundation'. This shines through in lessons and school life. Equal opportunities, fairness and respect filter through all aspects of the school.

Pupils at All Saints thrive. They develop into mature and caring citizens.

The school is inclusive.

Leaders provide excellent guidance for families who need extra support. Pupils reach high standards in their work by the time they leave.

There is a calm atmosphere around the entire school.

Most pupils behave very well in lesso...ns and when moving around school. For example, pupils open doors for visitors and greet them politely. However, some pupils reported that on occasions a few pupils do not behave in the way they should.

They said that adults deal with any negative behaviour well. They feel safe. Pupils understand what bullying is.

They know you must tell an adult. Bullying rarely happens. It is dealt with if it occurs.

Pupils value the different adults available for them to talk to.

There are many chances for pupils to take on extra responsibilities – peer mediators, the 'singing playground' and being part of the eco council to name a few. Pupils enjoy these important roles.

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

As soon as pupils start school, books surround them. Children in Nursery happily join in with rhymes and stories. The quality of education in nursery is exceptional.

There is not a second wasted. Every moment is a learning moment. Adults use 'concentrating crocodile' and 'exploring elephant' to help children join in and learn.

The teacher has a strong link and connection with every single child. This allows children to feel safe, happy and make good progress. These young children receive the very best start to their school life.

This carries on in Reception, where children are independent and involved learners across all areas.

Phonics is taught from the start of nursery. A highly skilled teacher seamlessly weaves learning into every session.

The Reception teacher builds upon this and extends pupils' prior learning in phonics. The Reception teacher makes the most of opportunities to link phonics to handwriting. Teachers give pupils books that match to the phonics children are learning.

This allows pupils to practise their developing reading skills. Leaders have outlined what letters and phonics pupils should know by the end of each year. However, not all teachers know how to break this down into smaller sequenced steps.

This is the same for spelling patterns across the school. As a result, teachers do not always help pupils to deepen their learning. This means that not enough pupils achieve their full potential in these areas.

Pupils enjoy reading. Senior leaders carefully choose books that link to learning in other lessons. For example, pupils in Year 6 said that reading 'Street Child' helped them when studying the Victorians.

Pupils say they 'like how it links to our topic and gives you an idea of what it would have been like to be a child at that time.' Features of the text help pupils improve their own writing, for example using suspense, cliffhangers and choosing better words. Pupils, including disadvantaged pupils, do well in their writing by the end of Year 6.

This has been a major focus for the school since the last inspection.

Staff use a raft of help and strategies to support pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND) very well. They ensure consistent expectations for behaviour which helps all pupils to learn well.

Pupils show great empathy in understanding why some behaviours happen. Older pupils appreciate how their time developing their 'Fantastic Elastic Brain' is helping them to gain strategies to cope with feelings, stay safe and be tolerant and respectful of each other.

Most subjects, including history, geography, science, art and design and technology, are linked through topics such as the Victorians, Extreme Earth and Cracking Contraptions.

Pupils have opportunities to learn through visits and practical activities. Pupils enjoy these experiences. They use some subject-specific vocabulary for each subject, especially in science.

However, pupils often talk about the activity they did, rather than remembering the specific learning. Leaders have recently put plans in place to improve the focus in helping pupils to gain knowledge and apply skills in a way that sticks with them. Teachers are just beginning to use these.

Staff work well together for the benefit of all. They value leaders' focus on their well-being and reducing workload. The school is well led.

Parents are supportive of senior leaders. One parent commented, 'The headteacher is a special person who has a listening ear and is always there for you.'

Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.

The strong culture of safeguarding is secure in all aspects of school life. Leaders carefully monitor pupils who are known to be vulnerable. Leaders know the school community.

They work tirelessly to engage parents. This fosters positive relationships. Staff know who to go to if they have a concern.

Leaders follow up any concerns rapidly. Systems of monitoring absence and lateness are robust and gradually make a positive difference.

Older pupils are trained to take responsibility for peer mediation.

This helps playtimes to be safe and happy times. Pupils have a good understanding of how to keep safe in different situations.

What does the school need to do to improve?

(Information for the school and appropriate authority)

Teachers know what phonics should be taught within a given year group.

They are less clear about the specific content required each term in order for pupils to reach age-related expectations. This means that not enough pupils reach the expected standard in the phonics screening check. Leaders need to set out the specific phonics content that they want pupils to have mastered by particular points in time and the associated vocabulary to be used.

. Teachers know what spelling patterns should be taught within a given year group. They are less clear about the specific content required each term in order for pupils to reach age-related expectations.

As a result, pupils incorrectly spell words that they should know. Leaders need to set out the specific spelling patterns that they want pupils to have mastered by particular points in time. Teachers should insist that pupils spell words with known spelling patterns correctly.

. Leaders have recently introduced a new curriculum. Plans for the development of knowledge and skills in the foundation subjects are still at an early stage of implementation.

These should be embedded more consistently across the school. Leaders need to ensure that the curriculum plans for each subject help pupils to know more and remember more over time.

Background

When we have judged a school to be good we will then normally go into the school about once every four years to confirm that the school remains good.

This is called a section 8 inspection of a good school or non-exempt outstanding school. We do not give graded judgements on a section 8 inspection. However, if we find some evidence that the school could now be better than good or that standards may be declining, then the next inspection will be a section 5 inspection.

Usually this is within one to two years of the date of the section 8 inspection. If we have serious concerns about safeguarding, behaviour or the quality of education, we will convert the section 8 inspection to a section 5 inspection immediately.

This is the first section 8 inspection since we judged All Saints CofE Primary School and Nursery, Nuneaton to be good on 3–4 February 2016.