Burnham Copse Primary School

Highlights from Latest Inspection

Outcome

Burnham Copse Primary School continues to be a good school.

What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils get a good deal at this school. They are settled and happy because adults take great care of them. The atmosphere around school is calm, caring and harmonious.

Pupils with specific needs are supported sensitively by their peers and by adults. All pupils have the opportunity to focus on their learning. This helps them to develop knowledge and attributes that equip them well for the future.

Leaders' high expectations for pupils' behaviour and work are evident throughout the school. Pupils are respectful and keen to learn. When standards sometimes slip, pupils say that ad...ults act quickly and effectively.

As a result, pupils learn how to make more positive choices about their behaviour in the future. Bullying is rare. Almost all parents and carers say that it is dealt with promptly and appropriately when it happens.

The school's values of 'believe, care, persevere, succeed' are an integral part of daily life. Pupils and parents value the planned opportunities to celebrate achievements together during 'sharing' assemblies. These assemblies help pupils learn how to listen respectfully to each other and to become more confident about speaking in front of an audience.

Adults are rightly proud of how well pupils do this.

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

Leaders think carefully about the knowledge they want pupils to learn across a broad and relevant range of subjects. They take pupils' different needs and starting points into account.

No-one is excluded from accessing the whole curriculum at an appropriate level for them. As a result, pupils enjoy and benefit from their education at Burnham Copse.

In most subjects, teachers' planning builds deliberately on what pupils have already learned.

Teachers check that pupils are 'keeping up', adjusting their plans or providing extra help when they need to. Staff are knowledgeable about the different subjects that they teach. Subject and phase leaders use their expertise well to support and guide their colleagues.

This helps to ensure that pupils benefit from consistently good teaching.Early reading is taught well. From their first day at school, Reception children are encouraged to learn letters and sounds as they play.

Children enjoy sharing books with each other and with adults. Opportunities for reading are everywhere. Over time, increasingly structured work helps children to secure their early reading skills.

By the end of key stage 1, almost all pupils read fluently. Those who do not are supported well. Adults identify and address the barriers to these pupils' progress, helping them to catch up.

As pupils move through the school, effective teaching enables them to become proficient in interpreting high-quality literature. This stimulates pupils' interest and supports their learning in other subjects.

Since the last inspection, mathematics has been a focus of school improvement work.

Leaders have looked closely at what pupils have struggled with in the past and identified the reasons why. A focus on getting the basics right is improving pupils' mathematical fluency and accuracy. Creative approaches to teaching help to engage reluctant learners and build pupils' confidence.

Currently, the impact of leaders' work is most evident in key stage 1. Here, pupils explain their learning confidently, showing how they are building securely on what they have learned before. In comparison, key stage 2 pupils' progress is less convincing, often slowing during Years 3 and 4.

Leaders have sensible training and support planned to help speed up the pace of improvement.

Art is not currently as well developed as other subjects in the school. Pupils enjoy a variety of learning experiences which introduce them to different artists, genres and techniques.

However, learning is not sequenced to build pupils' knowledge and skills over time. The new subject leader has appropriate and ambitious plans for improving the quality of the art curriculum.

Pupils benefit from useful opportunities for their wider personal development.

They value being able to contribute to their school, for example through taking on leadership roles and supporting younger or more vulnerable pupils.

Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.

Looking after pupils and staff is high on leaders' priority list.

This is reflected in how hard adults work to protect all of the pupils in their care. Leaders use relevant training to ensure that staff do not become complacent about their safeguarding role. By remaining alert to small changes in pupils' behaviour, staff are quick to pass on any concerns that may arise.

Leaders tackle these swiftly and appropriately.

Leaders invest wisely in staffing and activities that support pupils' welfare. Parents value being included in this work, helping all concerned to learn how to manage their emotions and worries.

What does the school need to do to improve?

(Information for the school and appropriate authority)

Improvements and strengths in mathematics are not as evident across key stage 2 as they are in key stage 1. Leaders should ensure that, through their planned development work, teachers' expectations of what pupils already know are high enough in Years 3 and 4 and developed deliberately by their learning in class so that pupils' progress is consistently strong throughout their time at the school. .

Planning in art is not as well developed as it is for other subjects. Leaders should ensure that learning in art builds pupils' knowledge and skills as successfully as it currently does in most other subjects.Background

When we have judged a school to be good, we will then normally go into the school about once every four years to confirm that the school remains good.

This is called a section 8 inspection of a good school or non-exempt outstanding school. We do not give graded judgements on a section 8 inspection. However, if we find some evidence that the school could now be better than good or that standards may be declining, then the next inspection will be a section 5 inspection.

Usually this is within one to two years of the date of the section 8 inspection. If we have serious concerns about safeguarding, behaviour or the quality of education, we will convert the section 8 inspection to a section 5 inspection immediately.

This is the first section 8 inspection since we judged Burnham Copse Primary School to be good on 9–10 March 2016.

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