Boorley Park

Highlights from Latest Inspection

What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils love their school. They are very enthusiastic about learning and are happy.Pupils are respectful to adults and to each other.

Strong relationships permeate throughout the school. Pupils are encouraged to live out the school's values, which include generosity and respect. They raise money for different charities.

Furthermore, they are expected to give their time to tasks, such as being 'playground pals', to help make the school feel safe and secure. Pupils also learn about different viewpoints and how to express their opinions and views respectfully.

This school is ambitious for all pupils to do well and achieve their very best.

Adults set clea...r expectations for learning. Most pupils rise well to these expectations. They work hard in lessons and generally achieve well.

Pupils behave well. They walk around the school in a calm and orderly manner. This includes children in Reception, who make a positive start to their education.

Even in the initial weeks of the Reception Year, it is clear how they have settled quickly and are focused on learning. At playtimes, pupils play happily together, enjoying the extensive school grounds. Pupils say that there is nowhere in the school where they feel unsafe.

They state that everyone is kind.

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

The school offers a broad and interesting curriculum. This curriculum identifies the important knowledge pupils need to learn right from the start of Reception.

It ensures high ambition for all pupils, including those with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND), to achieve well. The school has ensured that any additional needs that pupils may have are identified as early as possible. These are then addressed swiftly to avoid wasting important learning time.

In some subjects, for example mathematics and art and design, the curriculum is more established. There is a clear understanding of how pupils' knowledge and skills build over time. The school provides teachers with effective support to design tasks that enable pupils to develop their understanding.

Teachers plan helpful opportunities for pupils to revisit and apply their learning. For example, in mathematics, pupils recall and use their knowledge of calculation to consider and solve problems in different contexts. Teachers in all year groups ensure that pupils with SEND access the curriculum effectively.

For example, in art, teachers adapt resources such as brushes and pencils effectively to enable pupils to practise the important skills of painting and drawing. In these subjects, pupils make connections between topics to help them remember their learning. They achieve well.

However, a few subjects are at an earlier stage of development. In these subjects, teachers are not currently using activities that enable pupils to learn as well as they could. What pupils do not yet know or understand is not always identified precisely enough and addressed effectively.

In these subjects, subject leadership is also at an earlier stage of development. The school has not yet provided the opportunity to develop subject leaders' knowledge in sufficient detail so they can check that pupils are learning effectively in every subject.

The school prioritises reading.

Carefully chosen, high-quality texts to teach comprehension and extend pupils' vocabulary have been identified. Children learn phonics right from the start of Reception using a well-sequenced programme. When learning to read, pupils read books containing the sounds they know.

This helps them to build confidence as a reader. While reading is generally taught well, some phonics teaching is not as sharply focused as it could be. Also, there is some variability in the quality of extra support that a few pupils receive.

However, the school knows exactly what needs to be done to iron out these inconsistencies.

Following the COVID-19 pandemic, the school has worked hard to improve pupils' attendance. Successful strategies have enabled the number of pupils who are persistently absent to reduce significantly.

Most pupils now attend school regularly.

The school has a carefully considered approach to supporting pupils' personal development. Pupils learn age-appropriate knowledge of healthy relationships and diversity.

They learn about eating well and maintaining an active lifestyle. They also learn how to keep themselves safe, including when online. The school has introduced opportunities to develop pupils' talents and broaden their interests.

This includes different school clubs and trips to the zoo, museums and an art gallery.

All members of the school work well together to continue to improve provision for the pupils. The school is determined that all staff have access to high-quality training to develop their expertise.

Staff are overwhelmingly positive about the school. They recognise that they have the time to focus on the aspects of their work that have the most impact on pupils' learning.

Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.

What does the school need to do to improve?

(Information for the school and appropriate authority)

• There are some inconsistencies in how well some pupils are supported to learn to read. This means that some pupils do not learn to read quickly enough. The school should ensure that these inconsistencies are ironed out so that all pupils learn to read confidently and fluently as quickly as possible.

• Subject leadership in some foundation subjects is at an early stage of development. Some subject leaders need to deepen their subject and pedagogical content knowledge, so that they can support staff to implement the curriculum more effectively. The school should ensure that subject leadership across the whole curriculum improves.

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