Carnforth Community Primary School

Highlights from Latest Inspection

What is it like to attend this school?

This school provides a nurturing environment where pupils and their families are respected and supported. Pupils are happy.

They feel valued and accepted.

The school's values, such as kindness and friendship, underpin the pleasant relationships between everyone in the school. Pupils are considerate and care for one another.

The school motto, 'believe and achieve,' is brought to life daily. The school is ambitious for all pupils to achieve well. This includes pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND).

Most pupils enjoy learning and try their best. They typically achieve well. Pupils in Year 6 are well prepared for their secondar...y education.

Most pupils behave well in lessons and at playtimes. They enjoy the praise and rewards that they receive for behaving well and upholding the school values. Pupils develop leadership skills by taking on responsibilities such as sport leaders, lunchtime 'salad-bar' monitors and by ringing the bell to signal the end of playtime.

Pupils benefit from a wide range of trips and activities beyond the academic curriculum. For example, pupils spoke excitedly about canoeing, building campfires and caving, as well as residential trips and theatre visits. These experiences enable pupils to develop exciting new interests and find undiscovered talents.

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

The school has developed an ambitious and well-thought-out curriculum in most subjects from the early years to the end of key stage 2. Staff are provided with helpful guidance, so that they know what pupils need to learn and when this should happen. Staff have benefited from curriculum training in recent times.

In the main, they choose appropriate resources, activities and questions to help pupils to learn. Typically, staff explain new concepts with clarity, and use a range of strategies to check on pupils' understanding.

The school has established systems for checking and evaluating the delivery of the curriculum.

However, in a small number of subjects, the school does not use these systems as effectively as it could. Consequently, the school sometimes does not identify, or address, the most important issues with how some curriculum content is delivered. On occasions, the curriculum is not delivered as intended and pupils' learning is hindered.

There are effective systems in place to identify the additional needs of pupils with SEND. These pupils benefit from the support that they receive. Staff are well informed about the best ways to help pupils with SEND to thrive in all aspects of their development.

Reading is promoted across the school. Pupils gain from reading a wide range of interesting books. They enjoy listening to adults reading carefully chosen books to them at story times.

Most staff deliver the new early reading curriculum effectively. Typically, pupils who do not keep up with the phonics programme are supported to catch up effectively. This helps these pupils to become successful readers.

Most pupils behave sensibly in and around school. They are supported to play cooperatively and to make new friends. In the main, staff respond quickly when pupils forget to be kind or need guidance, so that unwanted behaviour is addressed effectively.

Nevertheless, some staff are not confident in supporting pupils who need help to follow classroom rules and routines. This means that, on occasions, particularly in the early years, low-level disruption is not addressed consistently well. Learning is interrupted at times.

This prevents some children and pupils from learning all that they should.

The school has thought carefully about pupils' personal development. Pupils take full advantage of the array of high-quality enrichment activities that the school offers.

For example, pupils are keen to attend clubs such as judo and cooking. Children in the early years, and pupils across the rest of the school, benefit from outdoor learning in the school's woodland area, for example building dens, bird watching and planting bulbs. This helps pupils to learn more about the natural world and to develop resilience.

Pupils learn about road safety and the differences between people, such as different families. They gain the age-appropriate knowledge that they need to stay healthy, safe and prepared for life in modern Britain.

Governors have an accurate oversight of the school.

They are committed to the success of every pupil and diligently check on the school's work to achieve this ambition. The school considers the workload and well-being of staff in the decisions that it makes about school. For example, leaders carefully consider the impact of implementing new initiatives to ensure that they do not cause undue workload for staff.

As a result, staff feel well supported to hone and develop their expertise.

Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.

What does the school need to do to improve?

(Information for the school and appropriate authority)

• In a small number of subjects, the school is not effective at evaluating the delivery and impact of the curriculum.

This means that some weaknesses are not identified and acted on in a timely manner. In turn, this hinders pupils' achievement in these subjects. The school should ensure that it gathers and evaluates monitoring information effectively so that it can quickly address any shortcomings in subject curriculums.

A small number of pupils struggle to regulate their behaviour in class. On occasions, they disrupt the learning of others. The school should ensure that staff are well equipped to support these pupils so that they, and other pupils, can learn all that they should.