Beechwood Primary School and Nursery

Highlights from Latest Inspection

What is it like to attend this school?

Beechwood Primary and Nursery School is a caring and nurturing place that welcomes everyone into its family. Pupils love coming to school. Each morning, as they walk into the playground, they are greeted warmly by staff.

Pupils know that staff at the school genuinely care about them. They thrive on the positive relationships they have with staff and each other. This helps them to feel safe and happy.

Leaders have set high expectations for all pupils. They encourage pupils to be aspirational about their future. Pupils respect this and try their best.

They enjoy their learning and are proud of their achievements. They told inspectors this is 'because lessons ar...e interesting and fun'.

Pupils are polite and show respect for staff, visitors and each other.

They know the importance of the school's rules and behave well in lessons and around the school. Pupils told inspectors that on the rare occasions bullying happens, staff deal with it quickly and it stops.

Pupils enjoy the roles and responsibilities that they have in the school.

They were keen to share that they love being prefects as they enjoy helping others. Pupils said that this role carries 'huge responsibility'.

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

Leaders, staff and governors are highly ambitious in their work to provide the best education for all pupils.

Leaders have designed an ambitious curriculum that meets the needs of all pupils, including those with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND). Leaders have thought carefully about what pupils will learn and the order in which it will be taught from Year 1 to Year 6. Across different subjects, teachers plan activities for pupils to build on what they already know.

This helps pupils to know and remember more. However, in some subjects, leaders have not identified how the building blocks of learning in the early years prepare children for Year 1.

The teaching of reading is a priority at the school.

Leaders view reading as the key that will unlock learning in all other areas of the curriculum. Older pupils know that being a good reader will help them to achieve well in later life. They are enthusiastic about reading and read widely and often.

Children start to learn phonics in nursery. Staff have strong subject knowledge. They use this well to plan activities to meet pupils' individual needs.

Pupils' progress in phonics is regularly checked. Immediate support is put in place if pupils need to catch up. However, on occasions, some pupils, especially those who need to catch up and pupils with SEND, are given books to read which are too difficult.

The books do not always match their phonics knowledge. This sometimes gets in the way of pupils becoming confident and fluent readers.

Children get off to a strong start in the early years.

They settle quickly because of the caring and supportive relationships established with staff. Leaders and staff have a strong understanding of how young children learn and the support that they need. Staff identify children's interests.

They plan a wide range of opportunities for children to deepen their learning and to learn new things.

The school's 'seven characteristics' are threaded through all aspects of school life. These help to foster a nurturing and highly inclusive culture.

Pupils are confident, resilient and want to learn. They behave well in lessons. This means that there is little disruption to learning.

Through the curriculum, pupils have many opportunities to enhance their personal development. For example, pupils learn about people from different cultures. Pupils display a strong understanding of respect and democracy and how this supports individuals to put forward their point of view.

Staff love working at the school and morale is high. They feel well supported by leaders and talk with pride about their 'school family'. Staff appreciate the way that leaders genuinely care about their well-being and workload.

Leaders promote activities like random acts of kindness and staff 'shout outs' to celebrate the work of staff.

Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.

Leaders, staff and governors ensure that the safety of pupils is a priority.

Staff are well trained to recognise signs of neglect or abuse. They report any concerns immediately. Leaders engage well with external agencies to provide additional support for pupils and their families when needed.

Leaders have made sure that the curriculum provides opportunities for pupils to learn how to keep themselves safe. For example, pupils displayed an in-depth understanding of online safety.

What does the school need to do to improve?

(Information for the school and appropriate authority)

• In some subjects, leaders have not identified the early building blocks of knowledge that children need to acquire in the early years.

This means that pu-pils' learning in key stage 1 does not always build on what they already know. Leaders should ensure that curriculum plans include the knowledge that pupils will learn from the early years to Year 6. This will help pupils to know and remem-ber more across the curriculum.

• On occasions, pupils read books which are not well matched to their phonic knowledge. This means that pupils, especially those who need to catch up, find these books too difficult to read. Teachers should ensure that the books children read are well matched to their phonics knowledge, so that pupils develop their reading skills and fluency.