Blair Peach Primary School

Highlights from Latest Inspection

What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils at this school are kind, caring and considerate towards one another. They understand the school's agreed values and treat each other with courtesy.

Relationships between staff and pupils are warm and respectful.

Leaders have high expectations for all pupils. Across the school, the broad curriculum is well designed and ambitious.

The focus on ensuring that pupils are well prepared for their next steps in learning is clear. This work is particularly strong in the early years. No time is wasted in teaching children essential knowledge, including learning to read.

This forms a key part of leaders' work to ensure children's readiness for Year 1..../>
In classrooms and playgrounds, pupils show that they know how to behave. They consistently live up to leaders' high expectations of behaviour.

Lessons take place free from interruptions and are calm and purposeful. Bullying is uncommon and not tolerated. Pupils are confident that if it does happen, it will be dealt with effectively.

Leaders' work to develop the provision for pupils' personal development is exceptionally strong. Pupils are taught to show great respect and tolerance for everyone. Leaders and staff aim to develop pupils' character through rich ongoing discussions and reflections.

Through this approach, they focus on helping pupils to become more self-aware and gain a deeper understanding of their strengths, areas for improvement, and emotions.

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

Leaders have designed a broad and ambitious curriculum. It enables pupils to learn essential knowledge, ideas and vocabulary.

In most subjects, leaders have identified the key information that pupils need to learn. This has been well organised in a logical manner. For example, in mathematics, children in the early years practise counting numbers and recognising patterns.

Older pupils go on to use this knowledge to support them to add, subtract, multiply and divide. In history, children in the early years develop a solid understanding of basic time concepts like today, tomorrow and yesterday. This understanding is then built on successfully as pupils progress through the school.

This means that pupils develop a secure understanding of when events happen and how these relate to each other. By Year 6, pupils can confidently apply their understanding of chronology to sequence events, for instance when studying the impact of Blair Peach on their local community.

In a few subjects, leaders have not considered clearly enough what they want pupils to know.

This means that, at times, teaching is not focused on the most important knowledge pupils need to learn. Although teachers check what pupils know and remember, this is not securely established in some subjects. Leaders recognise this and have appropriate plans in place to secure improvement in these subjects.

Leaders prioritise teaching pupils to read. From the early years, children enjoy reading, and listening to a rich variety of stories and rhymes. Staff have been well trained to teach phonics.

As a result, the phonics programme is taught with precision, so pupils secure the sounds they need to read accurately. They read books that are matched closely to the sounds that they are learning. Pupils who struggle to read are supported quickly with a well-focused and effective catch-up programme.

All pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND) are identified early on. They receive appropriate support, including through adaptations to teaching, so they can access the same curriculum as their peers. This helps pupils with SEND to achieve well and to develop their confidence and independence.

There is a high-quality and ambitious early years provision. The curriculum is planned methodically and delivered through carefully selected activities. There is a strong emphasis on developing children's social and emotional skills in conjunction with fostering their early language and mathematics skills.

Children's self-confidence and independence are developed very effectively. This ensures that when they move into Year 1, they are ready to learn what comes next in the curriculum.

Pupils' behaviour and attitudes in lessons and around the school are exemplary.

They show consistently high levels of concentration and motivation when working alone or in groups. This means that learning is not interrupted.

The personal, social and health education curriculum, and the assembly programme, are structured extremely well to promote pupils' personal development.

The quality of provision is ambitious and rich. The sharp focus on pupils' personal development is enhanced effectively by educational visits and after-school activities. There are plentiful after-school clubs on offer, for example sketching, digital leaders and well-being.

Leaders place great importance on developing pupils' attitudes to learning, encouraging them to be resilient in the face of setbacks. Pupils learn about how lots of practise can help them get better at something, and it is okay to make mistakes. The school council holds weekly meetings aimed at nurturing these skills in younger children.

All pupils are taught about the importance of learning from others, reflecting on their emotions, and using these strategies as essential life skills.

Governors have a secure understanding of the school's strengths and areas for improvement. They work closely with leaders to ensure that planned improvements are well implemented and evaluated.

Staff appreciate the opportunities they have for professional development. They stated that leaders manage workload effectively and are supportive and mindful of their well-being. Staff are proud to work at the school.

Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.

All staff receive annual safeguarding training as well as regular updates. This means that staff are aware of signs of abuse, neglect or exploitation, and know how to report them.

Leaders have a good understanding of their local context. They work closely with outside agencies to provide the support that vulnerable pupils need. Leaders also ensure that all statutory pre-employment vetting checks are carried out when recruiting new staff.

Pupils are taught to keep themselves safe. They learn about healthy friendships and relationships in an age-appropriate way.

What does the school need to do to improve?

(Information for the school and appropriate authority)

• In a few subjects, leaders have not set out precisely what their expectations are for pupils' learning.

Approaches and routines used to check pupils' understanding are not as firmly established from Year 1 to Year 6 as they are in the early years. This lack of clarity makes it challenging for teachers to accurately gauge the extent of pupils' knowledge and retention in these subjects. Leaders need to continue their work so that all curriculum planning identifies the most essential subject content that pupils require, and that teaching routinely checks how well pupils have understood and remembered this subject content.