Christ the Saviour Church of England Primary School

Highlights from Latest Inspection

What is it like to attend this school?

This is a friendly school with the community at its heart. Parents and carers hold the school in high regard.

The school rules of 'be safe, be kind and be an active learner' thread through every aspect of life at Christ the Saviour.

Leaders and staff want learning to be relevant to and reflective of the school's community. This includes encouraging pupils to celebrate differences and treat everyone as individuals.

The school promotes its values consistently, which pupils follow and understand. Pupils achieve well in their learning here.

Behaviour in the school is exemplary.

Pupils respect and care for one another and all members of the schoo...l community. The school focuses on rewarding positive behaviour and celebrating success. Staff are quick to deal with concerns, including bullying.

They have positive, warm working relationships with pupils. They model respectful behaviour and attitudes, which pupils respond to very positively. Staff help to keep pupils safe and happy here.

From early years onwards, the school provides pupils with multiple enrichment opportunities. Leaders encourage high levels of pupil participation and have ambitious aspirations for all. The school arranges for inspiring visitors, such as a paralympic athlete and a visually impaired member of the community and her guide dog.

Through this, pupils are exposed to diverse life experiences and role models.

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

The school has designed a broad and ambitious curriculum. This has been well organised, with knowledge introduced to pupils in a logical manner.

For example, in mathematics, children in the early years practise counting numbers and recognising patterns. Older pupils go on to use this knowledge to support them to add, subtract, multiply and divide. In physical education (PE), children in early years develop an understanding of how to execute movements in various directions.

This is then built on and extended further in subsequent year groups and by Year 3, pupils can confidently and effectively pass a ball in a variety of ways.

At times, in a small number of subjects, teaching is not focused on the most important knowledge that pupils need to learn and recall. Although teachers check what pupils know and remember, this is not securely established in some subjects.

As a result, in these subjects, pupils' knowledge does not develop in the same depth as it does in other areas of the curriculum. Pupils' recall of important ideas is less secure, and this affects how well they are able to engage with more complex ideas.

The school has a strong focus on reading and nurtures a love of books.

From the early years onwards, children enjoy reading, and listening to a rich variety of stories and rhymes. Staff have been well trained to teach phonics. As a result, the phonics programme is taught with precision, so that pupils secure the knowledge that they need to read accurately.

They read books that are matched closely to the sounds that they are learning. Pupils who struggle with learning to read are supported quickly with a well-focused and effective catch-up programme.

Pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND) are identified early on.

They receive appropriate support, including through adaptations to teaching, so they can access the curriculum. This helps pupils with SEND to achieve well and to develop their confidence and independence.

The school offers a high-quality and very ambitious early years provision.

The curriculum is planned methodically and delivered through carefully selected activities. There is a strong emphasis on developing children's social and emotional skills in conjunction with fostering their early language development and mathematical understanding. This ensures that when they move into Year 1, children are ready to learn what comes next in the curriculum.

Children's self-confidence and independence are developed very effectively. For instance, staff organise resources in a way that enables all children to access learning materials independently and at their own pace. This includes providing visual aids to help children make their own choices.

Pupils' behaviour around the school and their attitudes to their learning are exemplary, including in early years. This is because pupils understand the well-established routines that help them to behave well and consistently focus on learning. The school has effective systems in place to support families to ensure that their children attend school regularly and on time.

The provision for pupils' wider personal development is exceptional. The school is ambitious so as to ensure that all pupils leave school with a well-rounded education that prepares them for future life. The wide range of opportunities on offer provides pupils with the chance to develop skills and passions that extend beyond academic learning.

This includes in sports and cooking as well as writing for the school newspaper. Educational and guest speakers supplement what is learned in the curriculum and help pupils to learn about diverse perspectives. Pupils spoke very positively and with pride about their leadership responsibilities, such as being house captains, playground leaders, junior travel ambassadors and mental health champions.

Staff are exceptionally positive about working here. They particularly appreciate the efforts made by the school to reduce unnecessary workload and support their 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)

• In a few subjects, expectations about what pupils should learn and how this should be checked are not firmly established. As a result, pupils' long-term recall of knowledge is not as full and detailed in this small number of subjects as it is in others. The school should ensure that intentions for what pupils need to know are made fully explicit and that any gaps in pupils' understanding are picked up and filled through the delivery of the curriculum.

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