Cheetwood Primary School

Highlights from Latest Inspection

What is it like to attend this school?

Warmth and respect shine through the interactions between pupils and staff in this happy school. Pupils feel extremely well cared for. In turn, they eagerly embrace roles where they can help others.

For example, older pupils train as peer mediators to help to resolve minor friendship issues. The positive relationships that pupils forge with others in the school help them to blossom into thoughtful and confident individuals.

Pupils are proud of the diversity of their school community.

They enjoy opportunities to celebrate each other's cultural heritage. The school also provides a raft of carefully considered opportunities for pupils to learn about and explore ...the local area. Pupils said that this helps them to feel proud of where they live.

Pupils are polite. Considerate gestures, such as holding doors open for others, are the norm. Most pupils successfully behave in accordance with the school's 'golden rules'.

Starting in the Nursery class, children quickly settle into routines. This creates a calm and positive learning environment. Across the school, pupils rarely disrupt lessons.

The school is committed to giving pupils the best start in life. Work to strengthen the curriculum since the previous inspection has been fruitful. As a result, pupils typically achieve in accordance with the school's high expectations across most subjects.

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

The school has placed reading at the heart of the curriculum. Most pupils at the school speak English as an additional language. Added to this, many pupils join at different times of the year.

The school recognises that reading is a barrier to learning for many of these pupils. It provides strong support to help them to overcome this. Pupils thoroughly enjoy reading.'

Reading rangers' provide a selection of books for other pupils to enjoy at breaktimes. Children in the Reception class are eager to share their own versions of their favourite stories with adults.

Children in the Nursery class join in with a wide range of stories, rhymes and songs.

This helps to prepare them to learn phonics from the start of the Reception Year. Staff deliver the phonics programme well. They provide effective support for those pupils who struggle with reading.

Most pupils quickly develop into accurate and fluent readers. Alongside this, children in the early years benefit from the careful attention that the school has given to building their vocabulary. The school helps them to develop the fundamental skills of writing.

However, in key stages 1 and 2, some pupils' learning does not build securely on these firm foundations. At times, staff do not support pupils well in developing their spelling, handwriting and grammar. This hinders how effectively some pupils communicate in writing.

The school has prioritised developing staff expertise, for instance in subject leadership. This has been used to good effect to redesign the curriculum so that it is well defined and ambitious. During a time of much change, the school has included staff in its improvement journey.

For instance, the school's 'start, stop, continue' approach has helped to establish a culture in which staff are consulted and valued.

Since the last inspection, the school has given careful thought to ensuring that learning builds logically from the Nursery class to Year 6. It identifies pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND) quickly.

Staff help these pupils and those who speak English as an additional language to learn successfully alongside their peers.

The school has ensured that there are appropriate systems in place for staff to check what pupils have learned. Staff use these well to identify any gaps in pupils' knowledge.

However, at times, some staff do not make effective use of this information to inform future teaching. Consequently, some pupils, including some pupils with SEND, develop gaps in their learning which staff do not address.

The school provides a programme of personal development that helps pupils to understand the wider world, their local area and themselves.

Year 6 pupils animatedly described a visit from the city's mayor during which they discussed the need for more green spaces in the local area. Pupils learn how to look after their physical and mental well-being. They are well prepared for life in modern society.

The school is calm and orderly. Pupils are inquisitive. They are attentive to staff.

Most pupils attend school frequently. Where this is not the case, the school works closely with families to identify and overcome any barriers to attendance.

Most governors have only recently been appointed.

They have focused on ensuring that they have the expertise to support and challenge the school effectively. Governors are committed to working with the school to continue to improve the quality of education that it provides.

Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.

What does the school need to do to improve?

(Information for the school and appropriate authority)

• Some pupils' written work is hampered by weaknesses in their spelling, handwriting and grammar knowledge. This limits their ability to communicate effectively in writing and hinders their success in English and across other subjects. The school should ensure that staff have a strong shared understanding of how to develop these fundamental writing skills so that pupils can apply this learning across the curriculum.

In some subjects, staff do not select effective strategies to address the gaps that they have identified in pupils' knowledge. On occasions, this hampers how well pupils learn and remember the intended curriculum. The school should ensure that staff have the training and guidance that they need to make effective use of assessment information to help pupils to acquire any knowledge that they may have missed.