Cheriton Fitzpaine Primary School

Highlights from Latest Inspection

Outcome

Cheriton Fitzpaine Primary School continues to be a good school.

What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils work and play happily together.

Strong relationships are evident in all aspects of school life. This helps pupils to develop positive attitudes to their learning. Staff care deeply about pupils.

They have high expectations, which are modelled consistently in lessons and around the school. Pupils learn to live by these expectations and follow them well. Older pupils value the opportunities to take responsibility.

They look out for, and support, younger pupils. This all contributes to the family feel.

Pupils are proud of their school.

They... appreciate the space and facilities they have. Pupils appreciate the range of experiences provided by leaders to enrich their learning. Pupils talk with joy about residential visits, charity work and running clubs for younger children.

Bullying is exceptionally rare. Pupils say they know adults will sort out bullying when it happens. Parents and carers agree that their children are safe.

They are overwhelmingly positive about the work of the school and comment on how much their children look forward to learning every day. One parent commented on their child's return from school each day and how they are bursting with excitement about new things learned.

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

Leaders are ambitious for all pupils to gain deep knowledge across a broad curriculum.

They prioritise the teaching of reading. They know the ability to read with fluency is the gateway to accessing all subjects. As a result, the reading curriculum is effective.

Teachers and teaching assistants have expert knowledge in order to help pupils learn well. As soon as children enter the Reception Year, they begin to learn phonics. Pupils who are at risk of falling behind are identified quickly.

Extra support is given when needed. Pupils take home carefully chosen books that allow them to practise the sounds they are learning. Consequently, pupils quickly learn how to sound out words and read them accurately.

This helps them to become competent readers. Older pupils say they love reading. They speak confidently about stories their teachers have shared with them.

Pupils value the school library and the range of books that are available to them to further support and extend their learning.Leaders have designed a well-organised and well-resourced mathematics curriculum. Pupils, including those in the early years, develop fluency in their number work.

They can apply this to problem-solving and reasoning. Leaders have prioritised mathematical vocabulary. This strengthens pupils' ability to talk about their learning.

In mathematics and English, teachers make regular and precise assessments to see how well pupils learn the intended curriculum. They use this information to address misconceptions quickly and support pupils where needed. In some other subjects, such as geography, assessment is not as developed.

This means that some teachers do not always know which important knowledge pupils remember over time.

Pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND) get the help they need. Leaders have supported staff to adapt learning to meet the needs of pupils well.

Pupils with SEND learn the same ambitious curriculum as their peers.

Pupils understand the importance of behaving well. They know the school rules and routines and follow them.

This is underpinned by the secure and nurturing relationships between staff and pupils. Pupils want to meet the high expectations staff have of them. This begins in Nursery and Reception and continues through to Year 6.

As a result, behaviour in lessons and throughout school is typically calm and purposeful.

Leaders promote pupils' wider development well. The well-considered curriculum for personal, social, health and economic education helps pupils prepare for the wider world.

Pupils take on school-wide responsibilities. For example, the school council organises and runs a playtime tuck-shop. The school enhances the curriculum by offering experiences such as theatre visits and residential trips.

Pupils can join clubs, such as dance, craft, dodgeball and animation. This enables pupils to increase their talents and interests as well as become more independent and resilient.

Parents appreciate the work of leaders.

They particularly value the way in which leaders work supportively with them and keep them well informed about the school. Almost every parent would recommend the school to another parent.

Leaders treat staff with care and consideration.

Staff, including school leaders, feel well supported and benefit from the shared training that being part of the federation provides.

Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.

Leaders and governors ensure that all staff have regular and detailed safeguarding training.

This means that staff are alert to the possible signs of abuse and neglect. They know pupils and families well and act quickly when pupils need help. Staff recognise the importance of promoting pupils' health, well-being and emotional development.

Leaders make appropriate checks to assure themselves that adults are safe to work with children. Records are meticulously kept.

Pupils feel safe.

They learn how to keep themselves safe and understand risk.

What does the school need to do to improve?

(Information for the school and appropriate authority)

• In subjects other than English and mathematics, systems to check and gather accurate information about what pupils know and can do are very new. As a result, some pupils do not successfully build on prior knowledge.

This can lead to gaps in learning. Leaders need to ensure that assessment information is used effectively so that subject leaders and teachers can adapt learning to close any gaps in pupils' learning and establish accurate information about how well pupils learn the curriculum in all subjects.

Background

When we have judged a school to be good, we will then normally go into the school about once every four years to confirm that the school remains good.

This is called an ungraded inspection, and it is carried out under section 8 of the Education Act 2005. We do not give graded judgements on an ungraded inspection. However, if we find evidence that a school would now receive a higher or lower grade, then the next inspection will be a graded inspection, which is carried out under section 5 of the Act.

Usually this is within one to two years of the date of the ungraded inspection. If we have serious concerns about safeguarding, behaviour or the quality of education, we will deem the ungraded inspection a graded inspection immediately.

This is the first ungraded inspection since we judged the school to be good in June 2017.