Churchstanton Primary School

Highlights from Latest Inspection

What is it like to attend this school?

This is a friendly, happy and welcoming school.

The school has high expectations for pupils' learning and behaviour. Pupils learn the importance of values such as respect, responsibility and resilience. As a result, pupils are polite, sociable and respectful.

They know what is expected of them and behave well. They have positive attitudes to learning and persevere when learning is difficult. Pupils are a credit to the school.

The school provides exciting opportunities to ignite pupils' interests. For example, pupils compete in a range of sporting activities at the school's 'net, wall and ball' event. Pupils enjoy chess, football and choir.

Staff care... deeply for pupils and form positive relationships with them. The school provides highly effective support for pupils' mental health and well-being. Pupils feel in safe hands at school and talk to staff if they have any worries.

Pupils are kind to one another. They trust adults to sort out any problems that occur.

The school knows its pupils and families well.

Parents are overwhelmingly supportive of the school. They value the school's approachable staff, who help their children to thrive.

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

The school has designed an ambitious and rich curriculum in all subjects.

The curriculum clearly identifies the most important concepts and skills pupils must learn. It is carefully sequenced to build on prior learning. The curriculum is enriched with interesting activities, such as theatre and museum trips.

The school inspires pupils to develop a love of reading. Reading is prioritised and children learn to read as soon as they start school. The school's well-established phonics programme is taught well.

Most pupils read confidently and fluently. Pupils who find it difficult to read are given extra practice. This helps them to catch up.

Pupils develop wider reading skills, such as inference and deduction. They enjoy reading for pleasure. They become engrossed when listening to stories adults read to them.

Staff have good subject knowledge that they use well to explain concepts clearly, and model what they want pupils to do. Pupils regularly recap prior learning. For example, in mathematics, pupils practise their times tables.

This helps them become more fluent, so that they are able to move on to more complex work.

While most pupils achieve well in reading, writing and mathematics, in some foundation subjects, and in the early years, the curriculum is still being developed. For example, most of the time, the school routinely checks pupils' learning.

However, sometimes, this does not sharply identify what pupils already know and can do. This restricts how well the school can plan future learning.

The school adapts the curriculum for pupils when needed.

It provides precisely focused extra pastoral and teaching support for disadvantaged pupils and pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND). This enables these pupils to learn the same curriculum as others. It has a positive impact on pupils' confidence and self-esteem.

As a result, pupils with SEND become fully involved in their learning.

Pupils are motivated to learn. They listen with interest and enjoy sharing their knowledge.

Pupils, and children in the early years, complete activities which spark their curiosity. For example, older pupils enjoy making soap carvings, inspired by Inuit sculptures. Reception children observe shells through a magnifying glass and describe what they can see and feel.

This helps them to develop their vocabulary and remember important information about the topics they are learning.

However, sometimes the school does not have sufficiently high expectations of pupils' written work. For example, some pupils are not routinely challenged to write at length to share their knowledge, when they are capable of doing so.

In other cases, some errors are not addressed, or work is untidy.

The school positively promotes pupils' personal development. For example, pupils enthusiastically develop their sense of responsibility when they become sports leaders and house captains.

Pupils grow vegetables or bake cakes and sell them to the community to raise funds for the school.

Pupils learn to develop positive relationships. For instance, Reception children are taught what it means to be a good friend.

Older pupils learn about safe and healthy relationships.

The school provides pupils with valuable opportunities to develop their physical and mental well-being. For example, Reception children learn to climb, and ride scooters and trikes.

They go for walks in the forest and balance on logs. Health professionals teach pupils how to maintain a healthy body.

The school supports staff well.

This has a positive impact on their professional development and well-being. As a result, morale is high and staff are well equipped to ensure that pupils learn well and are safe and happy.

Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.

What does the school need to do to improve?

(Information for the school and appropriate authority)

• The implementation of the curriculum in some foundation subjects, and in the early years, is in its early stages. As a result, assessment is still being developed and the impact of this work has not yet been evaluated. The school must fully embed the new curriculum in all subjects, and develop rigorous assessment, so that the curriculum better meets the needs of all pupils.

• Sometimes, the school does not have sufficiently high expectations of pupils' written work. When this is the case, some pupils do not produce extended pieces of writing, appropriate to their age, errors are not picked up and remedied, or work is untidy. The school must ensure that pupils are consistently challenged to produce their best work in all subjects.