Caston Church of England Primary Academy

Highlights from Latest Inspection

What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils are happy at this small and welcoming school.

Older and younger pupils play together well at breaktimes and at lunch. They know that if something worries them there is always an adult in school who can help.

The school has high ambitions for pupils' academic and social development.

This is an inclusive school. Opportunities are open to everyone and all pupils are expected to do their best. This starts from the very first moment children start in Reception.

Teachers help pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND) to achieve these high ambitions.

Pupils enjoy the clubs and activities that the school provides. This ...includes a range of sports clubs, additional music tuition, trips to the theatre and visits to local wetlands.

These are helping pupils to try out new things. Pupils are proud of their work to help their local community. They arranged a sponsored walk to raise money for a local foodbank.

Pupils are respectful and tolerant of others. They welcome new pupils to the school warmly. Pupils are polite and friendly towards adults who work at the school and to visitors.

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

The school has worked to redevelop its curriculum over the last two years. This has resulted in an ambitious curriculum that focuses precisely on the knowledge that pupils need to learn. The school has thought carefully about the best order to teach this in and how to prevent pupils from developing misconceptions.

This ambition starts in Reception where the youngest children learn challenging vocabulary.

The school prioritises reading. This begins when children first join the school.

Staff are thoroughly trained to teach the school's phonics programme with precision. This is helping pupils to read well. Teachers use assessment effectively to identify pupils who are struggling with reading and give them extra help.

As pupils get older, they are introduced to high-quality texts that sit at the heart of the curriculum. Pupils enjoy daily reading in lessons. Teachers contribute to pupils' love of reading by regularly reading to their classes with enthusiasm.

Teachers have strong subject knowledge and typically teach the curriculum well. They choose appropriate activities for pupils to learn the knowledge and skills they need for their next steps. The school has an effective approach to assessment.

This is helped by knowledge being broken down into small chunks in the curriculum. Teachers check if pupils are learning what they need to in lessons. Occasionally, this checking does not include as many pupils as it could.

This means that teachers occasionally move on to new subject content before all pupils are ready. Pupils with SEND have their needs identified quickly and are helped to learn the full curriculum.

Children in Reception get off to a good start.

Teachers have high expectations of children's behaviour and what they can achieve from the very beginning. Children are taught the routines they need to be successful. This helps children to do their best.

Pupils' behaviour is mostly positive around the school. At breaktimes and at lunch, behaviour is often exemplary. In lessons, the behaviour of a small number of pupils sometimes does not meet the school's high expectations.

This can sometimes slow pupils' learning. This is because many teachers are new to the school and are still embedding consistent classroom routines and expectations.

The school has robust procedures in place to challenge poor attendance.

This is helping to improve pupils' attendance over time. For some groups of pupils, such as pupils with SEND, this is not improving as quickly. Significant numbers of these pupils have absence due to ongoing medical conditions.

However, the school does not check well enough if the attendance of all pupils with SEND is improving sufficiently.

There is a comprehensive programme for pupils' personal development. This is taught in relationships, sex and health education lessons and through collective worship.

This provides the knowledge and experiences pupils need to become well-rounded citizens. Pupils are positive about this aspect of school. They appreciate the opportunities they get in the curriculum and through wider experiences to develop in this area.

There have been changes to local governance at the school in recent years. However, the trust has worked to ensure that there has been continuity in the challenge and support that the school receives. This is helping the school to improve.

Staff are positive about the support they receive from leaders in managing their workload and well-being.

Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.

What does the school need to do to improve?

(Information for the school and appropriate authority)

• Many teachers are new to the school and have not yet fully established routines and expectations for behaviour.

This means that, occasionally, a small number of pupils do not behave as well as they could. They disturb others' learning and learning time is lost. The school should continue to help teachers establish routines and expectations that minimise further disruption to pupils' learning.

• Attendance for pupils with SEND is low. This means some pupils with SEND miss out on important learning and other opportunities. The school should refine its approaches for monitoring the attendance of pupils with SEND to ensure that patterns and trends in absence are better identified and used to inform strategies to improve attendance for this group.