Broadfield Community Primary School

Highlights from Latest Inspection

What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils at Broadfield Community Primary School enjoy their learning and want to do well. Staff place a sharp focus on raising pupils' aspirations and encouraging them to value their education.

The school has taken decisive action to improve the quality of education that pupils receive.

Staff have increased their expectations of what pupils can and should achieve. Pupils, including children in the early years, benefit from a considerably strengthened curriculum. Most pupils learn and achieve well.

A considerable proportion of pupils join the school part-way through the academic year. These pupils are welcomed warmly by the whole school community. Pupils celebra...te the diverse range of cultures and religions within the school and the local area.

They learn how to treat one another with kindness and respect. This helps pupils to feel happy and safe in school. Pupils who act as well-being champions are keen to support their peers if they feel sad or lonely.

Pupils enjoy the many trips and visits that the school arranges to enhance their learning and to develop their independence. The school offers a variety of activities to foster pupils' musical and sporting talents, which are open to all pupils. Pupils take on a wide range of leadership roles which enable them to contribute positively to the school community.

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

The governing body provides suitable support and challenge to the school, which has empowered leaders to identify and implement necessary improvements to the curriculum. The positive impact of these improvements is particularly evident for younger pupils, including children in the early years. However, some older pupils have gaps in their knowledge, due to weaknesses in the previous curriculum and because of the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The school has devised a carefully considered curriculum that identifies how pupils' knowledge should develop over time. It makes clear to teachers the prior learning that pupils should have secured, as well as the next steps that pupils are working towards. This helps teachers to design coherent learning that builds successfully on pupils' prior knowledge.

Teachers value the support that the school provides to develop their subject-specific knowledge and curriculum expertise, and to reduce unnecessary workload.

Teachers typically use suitable strategies to check on pupils' learning. However, from time to time, the activities that teachers choose to deliver the curriculum do not support pupils to deepen their knowledge as well as they could.

Added to this, sometimes staff do not identify and address some older pupils' gaps in learning as quickly as they could. Occasionally, this can hinder the learning of some pupils, including pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND).Most pupils who follow the entirety of the school's curriculum, from the early years to Year 6, achieve well.

However, a large number of pupils join the school during key stage 1 and key stage 2. These pupils often speak English as an additional language. While these pupils progress well through the curriculum, their success is not reflected in the school's published outcomes.

The school has acted decisively to strengthen its approach to developing pupils' reading knowledge. A successful programme to teach pupils to read is now well embedded, starting in the early years. In the Nursery classes, children enjoy joining in with songs and rhymes.

This prepares them well for learning phonics. Staff have received effective training which enables them to deliver the phonics programme consistently well. Skilled staff support pupils who find reading more difficult to keep up with their peers.

Pupils who speak English as an additional language receive targeted support which helps them to rapidly develop their reading expertise. Pupils value the regular opportunities that the school provides for independent reading. They appreciate sharing an ambitious range of class novels with their teachers.

Staff quickly forge warm relationships with children when they join the Nursery or Reception classes. Whenever new pupils join the school, leaders use a range of appropriate assessment techniques to establish any barriers to learning, such as pupils' additional needs. This includes accurately identifying the needs of pupils with SEND.

Staff have been suitably trained to support these pupils to learn successfully.

Pupils are taught how to behave in lessons and around the school. They rarely disrupt the learning of others.

Well-established systems support teachers to manage any behaviour that does not meet the school's high expectations. Pupils enjoy frequent opportunities to celebrate their positive behaviour and achievements. They take pride in their knowledge, and they are enthusiastic to share their learning with others.

The school is aware that some pupils need to improve their rates of attendance. It systematically analyses patterns of absence so that it can identify and overcome barriers that may prevent pupils from attending as often as they should. This is encouraging more pupils, including some who are disadvantaged, to attend school more regularly.

The school has designed an ambitious and rigorous programme to support pupils' wider development. Pupils develop an age-appropriate knowledge of the dangers of the online world. They learn how to use technology safely and responsibly.

Pupils also learn how to forge and sustain healthy relationships with their peers. This helps to prepare pupils well for their life after primary school.

Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.

What does the school need to do to improve?

(Information for the school and appropriate authority)

• Some older pupils have gaps in their knowledge, due to weaknesses in the previous curriculum and as a result of the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. On occasion, this prevents these pupils from being fully prepared for secondary school. The school should ensure that staff are well supported to address any gaps in pupils' learning promptly, so that their future learning is not hindered.

• From time to time, the activities that staff select to deliver the curriculum do not help pupils to deepen their knowledge as effectively as they could. This hinders some pupils, including some with SEND, from learning all that they should. The school should ensure that staff are well equipped to design learning that supports pupils to acquire and remember their knowledge securely over time.