Broadmead Primary School

Highlights from Latest Inspection

What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils and their families feel welcome here. The school encourages pupils to treat everyone equally and with respect. Staff offer a range of support to meet the needs of all pupils, such as the 'Nurture Nest', which provides support for pupils' emotional and social development.

Staff make sure that pupils are kept safe. Pupils talk to staff or use 'worry boxes' if they have any concerns. Pupils enjoy their learning and they achieve highly.

Beyond academic goals, the school encourages pupils to work towards a set of 'personal goals,' which include being ethical and communicating clearly. Pupils enjoy finding out about significant people from diverse backgrounds who dem...onstrate these traits. For example, pupils learned about a famous sports player and spoke about how they were inspired to be resilient like him.

The school is committed to broadening pupils' horizons and aspirations. Leaders ensure that all pupils have the same opportunities to take part in all that the school organises. Pupils spoke enthusiastically about 'ticking off' experiences that they have through the 'Pioneer Passport'.

These range from theatre and museum visits to cooking a healthy meal and going on a picnic. Many pupils attend the wide range of clubs on offer, including various sports, gardening and Spanish.

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

The school reviews the curriculum regularly to make sure that it meets the needs of pupils.

Leaders are ambitious for what their pupils can achieve. The planned curriculum reflects this and is suitably broad. Teaching is adapted carefully for pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND) so that all pupils access the same curriculum.

The school has effective systems in place to identify accurately and support pupils with SEND. Staff are well supported to ensure that their workload is manageable.

The school has identified what they want pupils to learn and remember across all subject areas.

The foundations for these are laid in the early years. Teaching typically follows the planned curriculum, which breaks down learning into small steps. For example, in geography, pupils in Year 1 learn about features of an island and are ready to compare different islands in Year 3.

This helps pupils in Year 6 when they learn about the earth's features in more detail. Teachers revisit previous learning to help pupils remember important subject content. However, there is some variability in how well the curriculum is delivered.

On occasion, the work set in lessons is not effective in supporting pupils to learn subject-specific knowledge and skills. At times, teaching does not check carefully that pupils have learned what was intended before moving on to new content, which results in some gaps in pupils' knowledge.

In the early years, the school prioritises the development of children's communication and language skills.

For example, staff in the Nursery emphasise the sounds in words, which prepares children for learning phonics in Reception. The trust and the school provide regular support and training for staff. This has helped to ensure that staff are skilled in teaching pupils at the early stages of learning to read.

Weaker readers get targeted support to help them to catch up quickly. The school successfully promotes a love of reading and pupils in all classes enjoy daily story time.

The school's expectations of behaviour are clear and consistently followed.

Pupils like using the 'green triangle' behaviour charts which are in each classroom. Any incidents of low-level disruption are dealt with quickly so that pupils can focus on their learning. The school has worked hard to improve attendance.

Rigorous monitoring and effective work with families has encouraged regular attendance, and rates of persistent absence have significantly reduced.

The school encourages pupils to develop their leadership roles. For example, the members of the 'green team' help to protect the environment through doing activities such as litter picking in a local park and recycling in school.

Older pupils help younger ones in the playground as part of their peer-mentor responsibilities. Pupils learn about the world religions and visit a different place of worship each year to find out more about the faiths and beliefs of others. They are encouraged to be kind, and pupils who are the school's 'mini fundraisers' help to organise charity events such as the school's Christmas fair.

Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.

What does the school need to do to improve?

(Information for the school and appropriate authority)

• There is some variability in how well the curriculum is delivered. Sometimes, work that the school sets does not support pupils in learning subject-specific content.

Occasionally, teaching does not check carefully that pupils have understood what they are learning before moving on to new content. This affects how effectively pupils understand and recall curriculum content. The school should ensure that teaching supports pupils to know more and remember more in all subjects.