Cherry Orchard Primary School

Highlights from Latest Inspection

What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils at Cherry Orchard are proud of their school and are happy to be there.

They have positive relationships with staff and work well with their peers. The school's values of equality, respect, understanding, courage, friendship and honesty are threaded throughout the life of the school. Pupils embrace differences and show respect for each other.

Pupils understand what bullying means. If it happens, adults sort things out quickly. Pupils are kind and take care of each other.

They understand the importance of including everyone in school life.

Leaders want all pupils to achieve well. This includes pupils with special educational needs and/or disabil...ities (SEND), and pupils in the resource base.

The curriculum in almost all subjects helps pupils to do this.

Leaders enrich the curriculum through a range of trips and visitors to the school. For example, a 'Roman soldier' has visited Year 4.

Leaders provide opportunities to develop talents and interests. Pupils enjoy sports tournaments, singing in the choir and playing musical instruments.

Pupils behave well in lessons and around school.

Personal development and pastoral care are a strength. Staff know pupils well. They help them to become confident, resilient individuals.

Pupils are enthusiastic to learn about different faiths and cultures represented in school.

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

Leaders and governors know the school well. They know the school's strengths and what needs to improve.

There have been considerable changes in staffing over the past year. Leaders have done all they can to minimise the disruption to pupils' learning. Most staff say that leaders have supported them well during this period of change.

Leaders make sure that no time is wasted in teaching pupils to read. Starting in the early years, pupils learn phonics every day. Staff check how pupils are doing in their reading.

If pupils fall behind, they receive support to help them catch up. The effective teaching of phonics helps pupils to become fluent and confident readers. Leaders encourage pupils to want to read.

Teachers read to pupils every day. They select books carefully to develop pupils' knowledge of a range of authors. Pupils enjoy reading and understand why it is important.

Pupils study a broad and interesting curriculum. In the early years, there is a sharp focus on building children's vocabulary through stories. Staff teach the basics that children need to know for learning in Year 1 and beyond.

However, sometimes teachers do not ensure that children form letters and numbers with care. In addition, in key stages 1 and 2, sometimes teachers do not have high enough expectations of pupils' letter formation and presentation. As a result, some pupils do not form their letters correctly and their work is difficult to read.

Leaders have identified the end points they want pupils to achieve in each subject and year group. In many subjects, they have broken this down into the specific knowledge pupils will learn. Teachers revisit previous learning with pupils.

This helps them to build their knowledge and skills over time. Teachers explore concepts in depth, which helps pupils to develop rich knowledge in many subjects, for example mathematics and geography. In a small number of subjects, leaders have not set out the small building blocks of content that pupils will learn.

This means that teachers are not clear about what pupils already know and what they will learn next.

Teachers explain things clearly in lessons. They check how pupils are doing.

However, teachers do not always notice when pupils are ready to move on in their learning. As a result, pupils sometimes lose concentration and so they do not achieve as well as they could.

Leaders are ambitious for all pupils.

This includes pupils in the main school and those who attend the resource base. Teachers identify and assess the needs of pupils with SEND well. They provide the right support so that all pupils follow the same curriculum.

Each pupil is supported to access the curriculum and achieve success. Where possible, pupils from the resource base attend mainstream classes. They work well with other pupils.

As part of their curriculum, these pupils learn a range of life skills.

Children in the early years learn routines that help them behave well. They work happily together.

Children share and take turns. Older pupils have positive attitudes to their learning. They listen carefully in lessons.

Pupils have a strong understanding of British values. They can explain what tolerance and the rule of law mean and why these are important. Pupils celebrate different religious festivals, for example, Easter, Vaisakhi and Eid.

Pupils have leadership roles. They are proud to be members of the 'sports crew' and 'green influencers'. The school's wider work supports pupils to be confident and independent learners.

Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.

Leaders check that all adults who work in school are suitable to work with children. They provide staff with regular training on safeguarding issues.

Staff report any concerns, no matter how small, promptly. Leaders are tenacious in engaging the help of outside agencies, such as children's services. They make sure that pupils get the support they need as quickly as possible.

Leaders work closely with parents and carers and partnership agencies to make sure that pupils get the help they need. Staff support pupils' emotional needs effectively. They enable pupils to feel safe at school.

They teach pupils how to manage risks, such as when using the internet.

What does the school need to do to improve?

(Information for the school and appropriate authority)

• In a small number of subjects, leaders have not identified the specific knowledge they want pupils to learn. As a result, sometimes teachers are not clear what has been taught before and what they need to teach and when.

Leaders should continue to develop subject leaders' expertise so that they can make sure that end points are broken down and teachers are clear about the knowledge pupils need to learn and in what order they should learn it. ? In some lessons, teachers do not use assessment effectively to identify when pupils are ready to move on their learning. This means that some pupils do not make the progress through the curriculum that they could.

Leaders need to ensure that teachers are able to use assessment effectively in lessons to identify when pupils have understood what is being taught and are ready to move on. ? Teachers do not have consistently high expectations of pupils' letter formation and presentation. This means that some pupils form letters inaccurately.

Too many pupils do not take sufficient care with their presentation, which makes their work difficult to read. Leaders need to ensure that handwriting is taught consistently across the school. They should make sure that all teachers have consistently high expectations of pupils' handwriting and presentation and that they address any errors in letter and number formation.

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