Burlish Park Primary School

Highlights from Latest Inspection

What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils enjoy coming to school and behave well. They know the trust and school values and work hard to 'love, learn and live' together in a respectful manner.

Pupils achieve well. Leaders provide an extensive range of enrichment opportunities for all pupils. Parents' and carers' 'pop-ins' allow them to find out about and share in their child's learning.

Parents also value the care, support and nurture that all staff give to pupils.

Pupils are caring towards each other. They look out for each other's safety.

Older pupils take their play leader responsibility seriously. They know not to share information about the friends they help. House captains organ...ise numerous inter-house competitions across the year.

Older pupils help younger pupils as they cook, dance and row their way to success. Pupils are happy and safe. Leaders deal well with bullying if it should happen.

Pupils feel listened to and valued in school. School council has increased the number of litter bins in the playground and reduced the amount of rubbish on the ground. The youngest pupils show great care for, and love of, the environment as they use the specially created outdoor area to appreciate nature throughout the seasons.

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

Leaders set and achieve an unwavering ambition that every member of school will feel valued and be successful. This ambition starts from the very top with the trust's vision, values and expertise. School leaders make this ambition a reality in all that they do in and across the school.

Staff say they 'have the best of both worlds' in terms of how well the trust and school leaders look after them. They value the 'check-ins' that leaders make and the range of high-quality support in place to help them teach their subjects well.

Leaders have designed an ambitious curriculum.

In all subjects, there is a pathway in place. This takes pupils on a journey of exploring, learning and remembering from the early years to Year 6. A range of carefully planned visits bridge learning in books with learning in the environment.

Pupils behave well in lessons. They enjoy talking about what they are currently learning across a range of subjects. However, there are times when pupils do not readily retrieve their previous learning.

Leaders make sure that all pupils learn to read well. For a few pupils, this takes longer to achieve. Teachers do not give up.

The targeted help that is put in place continues until pupils successfully read their books fluently. Pupils are surrounded by high-quality texts in the school library and in their classrooms. They like the reading challenges that take place.

Just as a pebble dropped in a river ripples outwards, so staff in the early years begin the flow of building children's knowledge. Children benefit from a range of specific taught and free-choice activities linked to a topic. Each topic forms part of the whole in a carefully planned and sequenced curriculum.

Children used the props provided to wrap up warm as they visited the polar role-play area. They told an inspector that, 'You need coats, hats and gloves to keep warm.' They also know that you should wear sunscreen to keep safe in the summer and that 'penguins need the ice to be able to slide down to the sea'.

Teachers in the early years and beyond choose and use a range of strategies in lessons that are well suited to the subject being taught. For example, in mathematics, 'twist it and deepen it' helps pupils to solve problems using what they know. In physical education, pupils relish the challenge of measuring and comparing steps as they complete the 'million step challenge' with other trust schools.

Most teachers make the right checks to help pupils improve. Where this is not the case, such as with handwriting, leaders know about it and have swiftly put plans in place to make sure teachers consistently meet leaders' high expectations.

Leaders use their intricate and extensive knowledge of each pupil to note and understand individual needs.

They give each pupil who requires it an advocate; a person who will be there for them while they need it. They carefully match support to these needs. This specific attention to detail ensures that all pupils, but especially pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND), are successful learners.

It also makes sure that pupils with SEND regularly access a variety of extra-curricular opportunities. Parents of pupils with SEND in both the mainstream school and the language unit deeply value the difference leaders and staff make to their children.

Pupils can and do access a range of opportunities.'

Burlish Bear' and 'Munch and Crunch' clubs, plus Alfie the nurture dog, help pupils to be healthy in body and mind. From Reception children learning to ride a pedal bicycle, to the many inter-house competitions involving drama, rowing, cooking and sports, there is something for everyone.

Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.

Safeguarding underpins all that leaders do. Leaders make the right checks before staff start at the school. Once staff are in their role, safeguarding training and thinking about safeguarding are part of the daily routine.

All staff have a deep knowledge across a range of safeguarding topics. If concerned about a pupil, they know what to do, when and why.

Leaders and staff know the risks young people face in today's society.

They teach pupils about these risks and how to manage them. Pupils in turn know a lot about keeping themselves safe. This includes around water, while using technology, physical and mental health and within friendships.

What does the school need to do to improve?

(Information for the school and appropriate authority)

• The curriculum is relatively new, so teachers have had limited opportunities to support pupils to revisit their learning and remember things over time. This means that pupils are not able to articulate in enough depth or breadth what leaders have set out they should know. Leaders should continue to embed successful recall strategies and provide oracy opportunities for all pupils, enabling then to demonstrate the depth and breadth of their knowledge throughout the curriculum.