Beck Primary School

Highlights from Latest Inspection

What is it like to attend this school?

Beck Primary is a special and welcoming school where pupils are happy. The school truly lies at the heart of its community.

For example, it supports pupils and their families, including during school holidays, to overcome the challenges faced by the community. The school certainly is 'a big school with a big heart'.

The school has high expectations for pupils, both academically and socially.

Pupils are keen to learn. They relish learning about other faiths, cultures and fundamental British values. Pupils also benefit from the many trips on offer and from listening to visiting speakers.

This helps to bring pupils' learning to life and broadens their h...orizons. Many pupils achieve well across the curriculum.

Pupils respond well to the high expectations that staff have of them.

They behave well in classrooms and around the school. This includes children in the early years. The routines and expectations that children first experience in the early years are applied consistently across the school.

Pupils flourish in a calm and trusting environment.

Pupils are tolerant and accepting of each other. They play well together at playtime and lunchtimes, making effective use of the wide range of equipment and activities outside.

Pupils said that when issues arise, staff in school will always help them.

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

A high proportion of children join the Nursery classes or Reception class with considerable gaps in their knowledge. The school works steadfastly to overcome such barriers so that children are in the best position to learn.

For example, staff in the early years prioritise children's significant speech, language and communication needs and also their personal, social and emotional development. This often includes working with other professionals to ensure that children receive the bespoke support necessary to meet their individual needs. The school's approach successfully supports children, including those in the two-year-old provision, to gain confidence as independent learners.

The school is determined that every pupil will achieve their academic potential. However, the published data from 2023 highlights that pupils leaving key stages 1 and 2 did not attain well in reading, writing and mathematics. In part, this was because the school faced significant challenges in relation to pupils' behaviour and attendance after national lockdowns.

The school's work to improve pupils' behaviour and to restore good attendance habits has borne fruit. Current pupils, in the main, are ready to learn and they achieve well in a range of subjects. Some pupils who previously struggled to attend regularly now enjoy more time in school and also achieve well.

In recent years, the school has redesigned the curriculum to ensure that it is suitably broad and ambitious and that it addresses pupils' gaps in learning as a result of the pandemic. In most subjects, the school has carefully organised the curriculum so that there is a clear progression of knowledge across year groups. Typically, teachers deliver the curriculum well and pupils' knowledge builds successfully over time.

In a minority of subjects, the school has not clearly identified the essential knowledge and skills that pupils should learn. This means that, in these subjects, teachers do not have sufficient clarity about the knowledge that pupils need to secure in readiness for subsequent learning. From time to time, this hinders pupils from building securely on what they already know.

Alongside developments to the curriculum, the school has revised its assessment strategies. This enables teachers to check what pupils already know at the start of a new topic and then to revisit their learning at the end. In those subjects where the curriculum is designed well, teachers are clear where pupils' learning is secure, and where gaps in learning persist.

Teachers use this information successfully to close any gaps in pupils' learning. However, in subjects where the knowledge in the curriculum is less well defined, it is more difficult for teachers to use assessment strategies effectively.

Reading is a high priority at this school.

Staff are fully equipped to deliver the phonics programme consistently well. This enables pupils to quickly learn and use successful strategies to read unfamiliar words. Staff provide effective support for those pupils who find reading more difficult.

This helps these pupils to catch up quickly with their peers.

Pupils develop a love of reading at Beck Primary School. The school has ensured that pupils can choose to read from a wide range of texts.

Pupils talked confidently about their favourite authors and why they like to read particular books.

Over the last few years, the school has welcomed an increasing number of pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND). The proportion of pupils with complex SEND has also increased over time.

Across the curriculum, lessons and resources are adapted well for these pupils. Clear plans are put in place, so that pupils' learning is broken down into logical steps. This enables pupils to learn the same curriculum, alongside their peers.

The school provides several areas of nurture and sensory provision, for example in the specially resourced provision for pupils with SEND (specially resourced provision). Many pupils with more complex SEND find it difficult to reach the standards expected for their age when they leave Year 2 or Year 6. However, pupils with SEND at Beck Primary School typically make good progress from their starting points.

The school places high importance on pupils' personal development. Pupils benefit from an array of opportunities to expand their wider learning, including their understanding of life in modern Britain. Many pupils enjoy holding leadership roles in school.

They become sports leaders, reading ambassadors or members of the pupil voice group. In addition, the school ensures that pupils prosper from experiences that they may not have outside of school, such as being part of the brass band. Pupils said that they thoroughly enjoy performing for the public at different events.

The school, together with the trust and governors, has a strong, shared vision to improve the life chances of all pupils through a high-quality education. The impact of the changes that the school has made can already be seen, for example in the improvements in pupils' behaviour, attendance and learning.

Staff, including very experienced staff and early career teachers, feel well supported by the school.

This includes support with their workload and well-being, such as having the time to undertake specific tasks. They are proud to work in this school.

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 minority of subjects, the school has not identified clearly enough what pupils need to learn. This means that some teachers do not have sufficient clarity about the essential knowledge that pupils should build cumulatively over time. The school should ensure that the curriculum in these subjects defines the key knowledge that pupils should learn and the order in which this content should be taught.

• In subjects where the curriculum is less clearly defined, assessment strategies are at an earlier stage of development. This sometimes hinders teachers from identifying and addressing gaps in pupils' learning quickly enough. The school should ensure that, as these subject curriculums are finalised, assessment strategies support teachers to remedy pupils' misconceptions and gaps in knowledge swiftly.