Baydon St Nicholas Church of England Primary School

Highlights from Latest Inspection

What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils enjoy attending Baydon St Nicholas Primary School. The school is nurturing and welcoming. Pupils demonstrate the values of respect, kindness and perseverance throughout the school day.

They are morally grounded and make the right choices. Pupils are happy and attend well.

The school has high expectations for pupils' behaviour.

Pupils meet these expectations and are keen to do well. Children in Reception Year follow the well-established routines. Around the school, pupils are calm and settled.

This means they can learn without disruption. Pupils of all ages play together during breaktimes and lunchtimes. This makes social times an enjoyable exp...erience for all.

Pupils feel safe in school and online. Community links with the police and fire service support pupils to understand how to stay safe at home and when 'out and about' in the local area. Pupils know that adults are there to help them if they have any worries or concerns.

Pupils enjoy the opportunity to look after the class pet. Older pupils value the roles and responsibilities the school provides to develop their leadership skills. These include worship monitors, house captains and digital leaders.

All of this helps them to understand the importance of citizenship.

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

The school, alongside support from the local authority and governors, has been relentless in their drive to make the necessary improvements since the last inspection. The school's work to remedy the weaknesses in the curriculum supports pupils to progress well through the intended curriculum.

These changes did not have time to impact on previous pupils. Therefore, the 2023 published outcomes do not reflect the current quality of education that pupils receive.

Reading is at the heart of the school.

As soon as children start in Reception Year, they learn to read. The effective systematic reading programme supports pupils to learn to read well. Adults are experts in the delivery of phonics.

Pupils at risk of falling behind are swiftly identified and additional support helps them to catch up. Pupils in the early stages of reading have books that match the sounds they know. This helps them to build their confidence and become a successful reader.

The reading curriculum extends into key stage 2. The strong focus on exploring and enjoying a wide range of archaic and modern texts helps pupils to develop reading and comprehension skills. The emphasis on developing pupils' knowledge of vocabulary across the curriculum supports them to use this in their writing.

Pupils spoken with during the inspection say they all love mathematics. The well-designed curriculum supports pupils of all ages to secure an understanding of number. This begins in Reception Year, where children develop a deep insight of number composition.

This strong foundation supports older pupils to use their knowledge to tackle more challenging concepts, such as converting fractions into decimals. They apply this knowledge to solve word problems. Adults check pupils' work and address misconceptions.

Adults support pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND) well. Adaptations to learning and access to resources enables them to progress well through the intended curriculum.

In the wider curriculum, some subjects are further developed than others.

For example, in design and technology, the knowledge the school wants pupils to learn is clearly set out. Pupils talk confidently about the different sewing stitches they have used in textiles, in order to join materials. However, in some subjects, the curriculum design is not designed as well.

The school has not identified the small steps of knowledge pupils need to learn with precision. In these subjects, pupils do not build on what they know and the gaps in their knowledge are not addressed.

The school uses assessment information in reading and mathematics to identify what pupils know and remember and address any gaps they have.

However, assessment in foundation subjects is not well developed. The school does not have an accurate view of what pupils have learned. For example, older pupils confidently recall their work on the rainforest.

However, they struggle to name the countries that make up the United Kingdom and their capital cities.

The school's curriculum supports pupils to understand and accept difference. Pupils learn about the importance of a healthy relationship.

They talk with maturity about body changes as they get older and are confident that they could talk to adults in school without embarrassment. Pupils enjoy the school visits and trips that enrich their education.

Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.

What does the school need to do to improve?

(Information for the school and appropriate authority)

• In some subjects in the wider curriculum, the precise knowledge that the school wants pupils to know and remember is not clear. This means that pupils do not build knowledge well in these subjects. The school needs to identify the important knowledge they want pupils to learn so that they build knowledge well.

• Assessment in foundations subjects is not well established. The school does not have a clear and concise understanding of what pupils know and remember. The school needs to develop an effective assessment system so that they understand what gaps pupils have and adapt learning to address them.