Carleton Rode Church of England Voluntary Aided Primary School

Highlights from Latest Inspection

What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils at Carleton Rode Primary School feel safe and supported to do their best. They are proud of their school.

Pupils enjoy their learning and concentrate in their lessons. They are keen to offer ideas and reply to questions about their learning. However, pupils are currently repeating some knowledge, which means pupils do not learn all of what they need to as they progress throughout the school.

Behaviour is positive. Pupils show kindness towards others. Older pupils are keen to help younger pupils.

Pupils are respectful of differences. They say how their school motto of 'love your neighbour as you love yourself' ensures they welcome everyone. Bullying rar...ely happens.

If it does, adults are there to help. If pupils have a worry, they can tell an adult who will help them.

Pupils feel valued.

They have a voice that they know contributes to the life of the school.

Pupils enjoy a range of trips linked to their curriculum as it helps them to learn more about their topics. They also enjoy opportunities to represent their school when competing in sporting tournaments.

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

Changes in leadership have resulted in unsettled times since the previous inspection. Consequently, the impact on school improvement work has been slower than anticipated. While this is the case, leaders are ambitious about the aims of their curriculum so that it meets the needs of the pupils.

A full review of the curriculum has been carried out by leaders to prioritise the important knowledge and skills that they want pupils to learn. This has included consideration about when some topics are taught so that there is a clear sequence of learning. However, this has meant that certain topics are currently being repeated.

This is resulting in the same content being taught to some pupils which limits the opportunity for pupils to deepen their learning.

Teachers know their pupils well and use checks during lessons as well as end-of-topic assessments to adapt learning and address any gaps in pupils' knowledge.

Reading has a high priority across the school.

Pupils develop their love of reading through a well-considered reading curriculum. The programme for teaching sounds and early reading is confidently and consistently taught by staff. Pupils read books that are closely matched to their knowledge and understanding.

However, pupils who are struggling to make progress with their reading are not effectively supported. This is because additional support to help them catch up has been infrequent. This means that their ability to read impacts how well they can access the rest of the curriculum.

The leadership of the provision for pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND) has also been through an unsettled period. While pupils with SEND are accurately identified, the provision plans in place to meet their needs do not contain the important information needed to ensure that they are effectively supported to achieve their best. For example, they lack precise targets to track their progress or consideration of how learning can be adapted to help them to achieve their targets.

Teachers have high expectations for behaviour which makes sure the pupils are engaged with their learning.

In early years, leaders have recently reviewed and adapted the curriculum so that it provides the children with a diverse range of learning opportunities. They have chosen themes and topics to motivate children with their learning.

Leaders have begun to implement their changes. They are aware that further training, as well as changes to the children's learning environment, are required to further continue their work to improve the early years provision.

Leaders plan and promote pupils' personal, social, and health education (PSHE) and personal development well.

Pupils develop a secure understanding of healthy relationships. One pupil described a healthy relationship as 'families can be different shapes and sizes, skin colour can be different, it doesn't matter as long as they love each other and are kind'. There is a strong caring ethos across the school.

This ethos, alongside a comprehensive PSHE curriculum, helps pupils to be respectful, tolerant and resilient citizens.

Governors carry out their statutory duties appropriately. Governors and school leaders have a shared understanding of the priorities for improvement.

They understand the journey the school has been on and what needs to happen next.

Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.

Staff understand their responsibility to safeguard pupils.

This includes having robust checks in place to ensure that all adults are safe to work with children.

Regular training helps adults to understand and identify the risks pupils face. This helps staff to be vigilant about looking out for signs of harm and how to report a concern.

Leaders take appropriate action in response to any concerns raised.

Pupils learn how to stay safe, both online and in their community, in an age-appropriate way. Pupils can give very clear examples of what they should and should not do online.

For example, not sharing personal information with someone that they do not know.

What does the school need to do to improve?

(Information for the school and appropriate authority) ? Leaders have recently introduced a revised curriculum. Aspects of the new curriculum include a small number of topics currently being repeated with similar content being taught in consecutive years.

Leaders need to ensure that where topics are repeated, knowledge builds and extends on previous learning so that pupils are given every opportunity to deepen their learning. ? Pupils with SEND are accurately identified. However, currently, the plans in place do not include some of the important information needed to make sure that there is effective support in place to maximise the progress of pupils with SEND.

Precise and measurable targets need to be incorporated into the provision plans, as well as information about how the support will be implemented. This will ensure that pupils with SEND are better supported to achieve their best outcomes. ? The phonics programme is now more developed.

Staff are confident and consistent in their delivery of the programme. However, weaker readers are not effectively supported to help them quickly catch up. Leaders must ensure that weaker readers are given the effective support they need to catch up quickly so they can become confident and fluent readers.