Bude Primary Academy - Infants

Highlights from Latest Inspection

What is it like to attend this school?

Since the last inspection, the school has made many positive changes.

Pupils now receive a good quality of education. The school's focus on expecting pupils to learn effectively across the curriculum has paid off. Pupils now learn effectively.

The school has established close links with its parents and carers. It helps to support families when they need a listening ear. This helps staff to get to know pupils well.

As a result, they flourish academically and socially. By the time they leave Year 2, pupils are well prepared for junior school.

The school has a happy and warm atmosphere.

Pupils enjoy their learning and work hard. In lessons, pup...ils focus well. They move around the school site calmly and sensibly.

In the early years, children share resources well with each other. When speaking to visitors, pupils are confident and articulate.

Alongside, the improvements in the curriculum, the school has also strengthened its personal development programme.

Pupils benefit from a range of clubs in which to develop their interests. Pupils learn to consider others through being a 'Trailblazer'. The school ensures that pupils feel valued.

It celebrates pupils' achievements both in and out of school through weekly assemblies.

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

The school has focused relentlessly on improving the curriculum. It has ensured that the ambitious curriculum identifies the specific knowledge pupils should know.

The school has worked to ensure that pupils learn this in a logical order, even as the class structures have changed. Together, with the trust, the school checks regularly how well pupils learn. As a result, it has an accurate view of its strengths and weaknesses, which the school quickly sets about to address.

The school and the trust have struck a careful balance of making timely changes to the curriculum while protecting staff from excessive workload. Staff appreciate this consideration.

The school has trained staff to implement the curriculum effectively.

For example, new members of staff in the early years have learned about child development. As a result, staff have strong subject knowledge. They check regularly what pupils can remember from previous learning and address any gaps.

Staff provide work closely matched to the curriculum's intent. This ensures that pupils build on their knowledge well. They complete increasingly complex tasks over time.

However, some provision for pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND) is still developing. The school highlighted that its systems for identifying needs and adapting learning for pupils were not strong enough. Some pupils with SEND were not having their needs met well enough and did not learn effectively as a result.

The school has started to support staff to facilitate and guide pupils better in the classroom. However, some of this work is at an early stage and has not yet impacted pupils' learning in the long term.

Reading is prioritised in the school.

Children in the early years start to learn to read straightaway. Staff receive regular ongoing coaching to help support them in their teaching. They swiftly identify any pupils who are struggling and help them to catch up.

Pupils read books that are closely matched to the sounds they know. This means they become confident, fluent readers. Outcomes in the phonics screening check have improved and are now consistently in line with national averages.

Pupils learn to comprehend increasingly challenging texts by the end of key stage 1. Through carefully chosen, shared books, pupils develop a strong love of reading and understand its importance. As one pupil stated, 'Reading brings you into a world of knowledge.'



The school has identified the need to make its writing curriculum as strong as its reading provision. It has made significant recent changes to how pupils learn to write. Pupils now practise their writing skills more often.

Their quality of writing has started to improve. However, on some occasions, staff do not pick up pupils' errors in letter formation or punctuation. Consequently, pupils repeat these mistakes.

The school has considered its locality when teaching pupils how to keep safe. For example, pupils know what to do if they get into difficulties in the sea. Pupils know how to lead a healthy lifestyle, such as eating fruit and taking regular exercise.

They have a say in their education through the school council. Pupils are kind and caring. At social times, they show the same positive behaviour as in lessons.

They play happily together on the playground equipment. Staff support pupils who arrive mid-year well.

The school works closely with it families to ensure that pupils attend regularly.

The trust helps to provide clear systems to address any dips in pupils' attendance.

Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.

What does the school need to do to improve?

(Information for the school and appropriate authority)

• Some of the school's improvements for pupils with SEND remain at an early stage.

Not all staff have the expertise to support all areas of need effectively. As a result, some pupils do not consistently get the precise support they need to help them learn well. The trust should strengthen the expertise of all staff to support pupils with SEND so that these pupils learn the curriculum securely.

• On some occasions, pupils do not have errors in their writing addressed, such as incorrect letter formation or punctuation. Consequently, pupils repeat these mistakes and embed these misconceptions. The trust should ensure that staff identify and address errors in writing as they arise to help pupils become confident, fluent writers.

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