Christ the Sower Ecumenical Primary School

Highlights from Latest Inspection

What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils enjoy being part of a positive and inclusive school community. The school has high expectations of all pupils, including pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND).

Pupils are passionate about learning and respond well to leaders' ambitions. As a result, they achieve well in most curriculum subjects.

The school encourages pupils to be good citizens.

Pupils learn how to make constructive choices from the teaching of the CARE (choices, aspiration, reflection and engagement) curriculum. One parent reflected, 'The CARE values are noticeably and continuously weaved throughout everything the school does.' Pupils demonstrate these qualit...ies through positive relationships with other pupils and staff.

They are polite and considerate. They behave well and know that adults take concerns seriously. This helps pupils to feel safe and cared for.

Pupils are positive about the school. They understand how to keep themselves healthy and positively manage their emotions. Pupils appreciate how the school rewards their achievements and celebrates their efforts.

They value the wide range of opportunities in school. This includes the STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) week, where representatives from a car manufacturer provide insights into engineering careers. As a result, pupils have high aspirations for future careers and achievements.

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

The school has established an ambitious and well-considered curriculum. In most subjects, detailed planning contains the important knowledge and skills that pupils should learn from Nursery onwards. Staff follow the curriculum closely, and this helps most pupils to build learning well over time.

In most subjects, such as mathematics, teachers are effective at checking how well pupils understand the key content. They accurately identify gaps and use this information to adapt future teaching to swiftly address misconceptions and gaps in learning. In a small number of subjects, the school has not identified and sequenced the precise knowledge for pupils to learn.

This means that staff do not emphasise the most important content, and checks of pupils' understanding are less accurate. This slows pupils' learning in a few subjects. The school rigorously identifies the needs of pupils with SEND.

Where the curriculum is precisely defined, pupils with SEND achieve well.

The teaching of reading is effective. Pupils get off to a flying start in early years.

The school has a well-sequenced phonics scheme that staff consistently follow. Pupils develop into confident readers. Weaker readers are quickly identified and are supported effectively.

This helps them to catch up with their peers. Pupils read books that closely match the sounds they know. Older pupils are encouraged to read a wide range of books, including those from other cultures, faiths and perspectives.

Pupils relish staff reading books aloud to them. This exposes pupils to varied texts that they might not read independently. Newsletters, workshops and targeted help for reading support parents to read with pupils at home.

Pupils are well behaved. Staff explicitly teach children how to follow rules and routines from the start of Nursery. Children learn to be kind and settle minor disagreements.

As a result, pupils enthusiastically follow routines and rules. Across the rest of the school, if pupils present with more challenging behaviour, staff take consistent and proportionate action. Consequently, the school is a calm and purposeful environment.

The school has a coherent strategy for improving attendance. Leaders work successfully with children and parents to improve attendance. As a result, most children attend regularly, and there are tangible improvements for those who do not.

The school prioritises pupils' personal development and provides well-considered opportunities. Children learn about important life skills, such as cleaning their hands and teeth. Across the whole school, staff positively develop pupils' understanding of different family structures, cultures and religions.

This results in an inclusive school culture. Pupils, including those who are disadvantaged, are supported to develop their interests and talents. This includes sporting fixtures, trips and assemblies from different faith leaders.

As a result, pupils benefit from varied and rich experiences that prepare them well for the following stages of their education.

All leaders are fully committed to the school. They know the school well and provide robust challenge to one another to further improve the school.

They keep pupils' interests at the centre of their decision-making. Staff, including early career teachers, are well supported. Their training enables them to improve their teaching and subject knowledge.

Parents appreciate how the school works to keep them involved in what pupils learn and how they can support this at home. As a result, the school is improving well.

Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.

What does the school need to do to improve?

(Information for the school and appropriate authority)

• The curriculum in a small number of foundation subjects needs refining. As a result, pupils do not consistently learn and remember the most important knowledge over time. Leaders should continue to improve curriculum sequencing and assessment in these subjects to ensure that pupils achieve highly across the curriculum.

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