Archbishop Courtenay Primary School

Highlights from Latest Inspection

What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils are proud of the caring and inclusive community in Archbishop Courtenay School. They appreciate leaders' nurturing approach to mutual respect, which develops a sense of belonging.

Pupils value friendship and collaboration. They buddy up with new arrivals, so they too quickly feel part of the school community. Pupils feel empowered to help others in this strong community.

As a result, pupils are happy, kind and considerate to each other. Bullying is rare and if it occurs, leaders act quickly to address it.

Leaders achieve their expectations through the school values of compassion, aspiration, friendship, resilience and respect.

Pupils are motiv...ated to be recognised for upholding these values and gain their own leaf on the 'achievement tree'. These values successfully underpin pupils' attitudes, which means behaviour is calm and orderly right from Reception Year, enabling pupils to concentrate and learn well. Relationships between staff and pupils are warm and positive.

Pupils are confident staff will address any concerns, which means they feel safe.

Parents value leaders' purposeful and caring approach. A parent reflected these views, saying, 'This is a lovely school, where passion and commitment provide a nurturing and caring environment.'



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

Leaders are ambitious for all pupils to achieve well. They have successfully developed middle leaders' strong subject knowledge. This is reflected in improved curriculum thinking.

Leaders are embedding effective approaches to teaching so that staff explain new knowledge clearly and use thoughtful questioning to identify and address pupils' misconceptions. However, in some foundation subjects, end-of-topic reviews do not identify gaps in pupils' knowledge in sufficient detail to enable teachers to unpick what knowledge pupils have secured. In these cases, teachers lack clarity about which key learning pupils need to revisit.

Teachers carefully plan activities for pupils to apply new learning. Staff make effective adaptations which enable pupils with special educational needs/disabilities (SEND) to learn successfully. Staff know pupils well and know how to shape activities to meet their additional needs.

Pupils with SEND benefit from the clear expectations and support they receive.

Reading is a strength of the school. Pupils enjoy reading and talk confidently about their favourite stories.

Pupils routinely listen to teachers reading stories aloud. This begins in early years, where story time enthrals pupils. Pupils read a broad range of texts, which are thoughtfully woven through the curriculum to support learning.

There is a robust approach to teaching phonics, with prompt catch-up when needed, which ensures that all children become confident, fluent readers.

Teachers' high expectations are reflected in pupils' focused and respectful behaviour in lessons. Pupils respond keenly to teachers checking that they are 'ready to learn'.

Carefully chosen routines, established right from the early years, support pupils well. Consequently, pupils settle to work quickly and with enthusiasm. From early years onwards, pupils confidently follow well-established routines so that no learning time is wasted.

Staff are quick to redirect pupils if they lose focus in lessons. Teachers model and instil the importance of considerate conduct in pupils. For example, in early years, children compete to be the quietest class when walking for their lunch.

While pupils who are in school benefit from these high expectations and support for learning and development, not enough pupils attend school regularly enough. Leaders use a range of approaches, which has improved the attendance of some pupils. However, this is not having the desired impact for all pupils.

In particular, leaders' work has only just started to improve the attendance of those who are persistently absent. Leaders from the school and the multi-academy trust (MAT) recognise the need to redouble their efforts here.

Leaders provide a broad range of wider curriculum opportunities, which promotes pupils' personal development well.

At the heart of this, leaders prioritise character development to equip pupils with essential skills and build their understanding of the world around them. Pupils actively suggest and plan school initiatives, such as an 'International Day' to learn more about different cultures. Pupils appreciate valuable opportunities to learn how to be leaders through roles such as lunch monitors.

Leaders' clear vision and approachable nature have galvanised the hardworking and committed staff. Professional development is valued by staff alongside measures to make sure workload is manageable. However, leaders have not yet embedded a strategic approach which enables middle leaders to monitor and evaluate their curriculums, so that these are fully responsive to pupils' needs.

Governors hold leaders to account and work with the MAT to ensure appropriate support for further improvement.

Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.

Leaders provide high-quality training so that staff understand the signs and nature of different safeguarding risks, including specific local issues.

Staff are vigilant for indicators of potential safeguarding concerns. They use the clear and robust procedure to record and report concerns to leaders.

The experienced designated safeguarding leads promptly report safeguarding concerns to external agencies.

They are tenacious in their work to ensure that pupils get the help they need to keep them from risk of harm.

Governors undertake their statutory safeguarding duties and maintain sharp oversight of the effectiveness of safeguarding. Safer recruitment processes are followed diligently.

What does the school need to do to improve?

(Information for the school and appropriate authority)

• In some foundation subjects, the outcomes of summative assessment do not support teachers to identify next steps in learning. This means pupils' gaps in knowledge are not addressed effectively. Leaders need to make sure that end of topic reviews allow teachers to accurately check what pupils have learned and use this to inform their future teaching.

• Leaders have not sufficiently addressed low overall attendance and persistent absence through their current approach. Too many pupils with regular absence are missing key learning. Leaders, governors and trustees need to develop a robust approach which secures improved attendance for all pupils.

• Middle leaders are not consistently strategic when reviewing their curriculum impact and implementation. This means that staff do not get the support required and that pupils do not benefit from responsive changes in the curriculum. Leaders need to ensure that all middle leaders have the knowledge to ensure that their curriculum area is implemented as they intend.

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