Caldershaw Primary School

Highlights from Latest Inspection

What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils thrive and flourish at this school. They benefit from the school's unwavering determination to provide the highest quality of education.

Pupils value and enjoy their learning. They excel in their studies and achieve highly.

Pupils' behaviour is excellent.

They learn to uphold the school's 'CARE' values, which guide them to treat everyone with equal kindness and respect. This fosters a warm and nurturing atmosphere, where pupils feel secure and confident to be themselves.

Many pupils take on roles that make a positive contribution to the school community.

These responsibilities include eco-committee and school council members, who work... to improve the school environment and organise events to benefit charities and the local community. Children in the early years form positive connections with their 'buddies' in Year 6, who act as mentors and positive role models.

Pupils delight in the plentiful opportunities to develop their talents and interests.

For instance, they relish fossil and chess clubs, as well as a variety of sports, including dodgeball, gymnastics and archery. Pupils in the school choir enjoy regular opportunities to perform their repertoire, which includes songs that display pupils' learning of French. Staff make sure that the activities on offer are accessible to all.

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

The school is determined that every pupil should benefit from an exceptional education. It has designed a highly ambitious curriculum that flows seamlessly from the beginning of the early years to Year 6. The school has ensured that the information that pupils should learn is clearly defined and broken down into small steps.

This enables pupils to develop a secure body of knowledge over time.

Teachers benefit from a highly effective programme of training and development. This empowers them to craft learning that successfully promotes the development of pupils' understanding.

Children in the early years benefit from well-designed activities and high-quality interactions with adults. This enables them to master new concepts quickly.

Teachers are adept at checking that pupils have grasped the intended learning.

They swiftly diagnose and address any misconceptions that pupils may have. The school has developed effective strategies to ensure that pupils regularly revisit prior learning. This helps pupils to remember the information that they will need for future learning.

Throughout the school and across the full spectrum of subjects, pupils achieve highly.

Expert staff swiftly identify pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND). They make suitable adaptations that enable these pupils to successfully participate fully in school life.

The school has a strong culture of reading. Pupils are exposed to a plethora of inspirational texts and authors, which are thoughtfully chosen to ignite their passion for reading. In the early years, children enjoy sharing stories with staff, enthusiastically joining in with their favourite passages.

The school's phonics programme is particularly effective. Pupils swiftly develop the knowledge that they need to begin reading. The school has carefully selected books that allow pupils to rehearse the sounds that they already know.

Staff make frequent checks on pupils' phonics knowledge, identifying pupils that would benefit from extra help. These pupils receive the additional support that they need.

The school has high expectations of pupils' attendance and punctuality.

It works closely with parents and carers to overcome any barriers that may prevent pupils from attending school as often as they should. As a result, pupils are rarely absent.

Pupils maintain the highest standards of conduct.

They are friendly and polite, eager to offer a cheery greeting to anyone that they meet as they travel around school. In the early years, staff ensure that children settle in quickly. They help children to learn important social skills that enable them to forge positive relationships with adults and with their peers.

The school's provision to support pupils' personal development is exceptional. Pupils benefit from a rich and varied programme of learning that is well matched to their ages and life experiences. For example, following COVID-19 restrictions, the school focused on helping pupils to maintain positive mental health.

Pupils benefit from an array of wider opportunities, such as many outings that help to enhance their learning. These include residential trips, as well as visits to museums and to places of worship.

Governors are highly effective in holding the school to account.

They ensure that they have the information that they need to accurately evaluate the school's strengths and to identify any areas for improvement. For example, governors routinely check that any proposed changes to school procedures will not generate unnecessary or excessive workload that may impinge on staff's well-being.

Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.

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