Billinge Chapel End Primary School

Highlights from Latest Inspection

What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils enjoy coming to school. The pupils who spoke to inspectors said that it is a happy and welcoming place. They also said that it was easy to make friends.

Pupils feel safe because of the excellent relationships that they have with the adults who work at the school. Pupils understand the high expectations that are set for their behaviour. As a result, they behave well.

Although rare, bullying or incidents of serious misbehaviour are handled well by staff.

Pupils are responding well to the higher expectations that leaders have set for their learning. This means that pupils, including those with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND), achieve ...well in many subjects across the curriculum.

There are a wide range of activities on offer to enrich pupils' learning. For example, pupils can learn to play a musical instrument, visit a theatre or climb a mountain. The school provides a range of clubs and out-of-school activities to promote healthy lifestyles and different interests.

Leaders choose clubs to promote the development of pupils' character and their understanding of teamwork.

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

Leaders have focused on developing pupils' love of reading well. From the time children start in the early years, they are surrounded by quality books and encouraged to read regularly.

Children in the Reception Year and pupils in key stage 1 benefit from a well-thought-out phonics curriculum. Teachers carefully select books for pupils to read so that they match pupils' knowledge of sounds and letters. However, some disadvantaged pupils in key stage 1, including some pupils with SEND, have gaps in their phonics knowledge and they are not catching up quickly enough.

This is because they do not have enough opportunities to consolidate and apply their phonics knowledge before moving on to learn new sounds. Otherwise, as pupils move through the school, they read with increasing fluency and understanding.

Leaders have put an ambitious curriculum in place across all subjects.

They have defined clearly what they want pupils to know in each subject. The curriculum builds well on pupils' prior knowledge. This is helping them to know and remember more of the topics that they study.

Teachers check on pupils' understanding to identify any knowledge that needs to be revisited. However, in some subjects, the tasks that teachers set do not match the intended learning well enough. As such, some pupils do not remember some of the most important subject content that they will need for their future learning.

Leaders identify the needs of pupils with SEND well. They ensure that pupils are provided with support to access the same curriculum as all other pupils and to achieve well.Pupils have very positive attitudes towards their work.

They are happy to engage fully with learning. For example, in the early years, children work well with each other to successfully complete their learning activities. This sets the tone for the rest of the school.

There is little disruption to pupils' learning across the different year groups.

Leaders have placed pupils' personal development at the heart of everything that they do. Pupils gain a strong understanding of different faiths and cultures.

They treat each other with respect. Older pupils have opportunities to be role models for others by being a school councillor or by leading reading sessions for younger pupils during breaktimes.

Parents and carers are overwhelmingly positive about the school.

Many of the parents who responded to the Ofsted Parent View survey commented on how recent improvements at the school are making a positive difference to their children. Staff support the vision that leaders and governors have put in place. Leaders have galvanised staff in setting a clear direction for school improvement.

They feel that leaders are considerate of their workload and well-being.

Governors are knowledgeable. They have a good understanding of many aspects of the school.

However, they do not challenge leaders well enough about the development of the curriculum. The plans for school development lack clear, measurable targets. As such, governors cannot fully assure themselves about what has worked well and what they could do better to develop the school even further.

Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.

Leaders and governors have ensured that there is a strong culture of vigilance in the school. Staff are well trained to spot the signs of abuse and they know the procedures for managing concerns.

Leaders know pupils and their families well. Where pupils and their families need extra support, leaders provide early help or signpost families to other agencies, including children's social care.

Pupils learn about how to keep themselves safe, including online.

What does the school need to do to improve?

(Information for the school and appropriate authority)

• Some disadvantaged pupils in key stage 1, including some of those with SEND, do not apply their phonics knowledge well when reading. This means that these pupils are not catching up as quickly as they should with the phonics curriculum. Leaders should ensure that these pupils are provided with more opportunities to practise the sounds that they have learned so that they start to read with greater fluency and confidence.

• In some subjects, teachers do not make the key learning points clear enough for pupils. As such, pupils do not remember some of the most essential knowledge that they will need for their future learning. Leaders should ensure that teachers choose tasks that match the key knowledge as set out in the curriculum for these subjects.

• Governors do not hold leaders to account well enough for the impact of improvements to the curriculum. This means that they do not fully understand the difference that their decisions make to pupils' learning. Governors should set clear, measurable targets against which they can assess the impact of actions taken to improve the school.