Coates Lane Primary School

Highlights from Latest Inspection

What is it like to attend this school?

Coates Lane is a happy school where everyone is welcomed. Pupils, and children in early years, thrive in this friendly, caring school.

Older pupils learn to be role models for younger pupils. They form warm relationships with staff. Pupils live up to the school's expectations for them to be 'ready, respectful and safe'.

Pupils enjoy learning. They typically listen attentively and answer questions confidently in lessons. Most pupils achieve well and are ready for each stage of their education.

Although the school has high expectations of pupils' achievement, these were not fully reflected in the published outcomes at the end of Year 6 in 2024.

Pupils ...benefit from a wide range of opportunities to develop their talents and interests. The school offers after-school clubs, including sports clubs, as well as inspiring visits to museums and concerts and adventurous residential trips.

Pupils behave well and show positive attitudes to their learning. Those pupils who need help with managing their emotions receive effective support from staff who understand them well.

Pupils flourish in their various roles and responsibilities.

They enjoy being involved in community events and they plan acts of kindness to older local residents. This helps them to develop empathy and become caring citizens.

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

The school has designed an ambitious curriculum that provides pupils with the knowledge and skills that they need to succeed in the future.

The school has thought carefully about what pupils should learn and the order in which content will be taught. Similarly, the curriculum in early years equips children with the knowledge that they need and prepares them for Year 1.

Staff benefit from extensive professional development.

This helps them to deliver the subject curriculums effectively. As a result, pupils are achieving increasingly well.

In most subjects, pupils build their knowledge well over time.

However, the curriculum does not set out carefully enough the skills and knowledge that pupils need to learn in order to become proficient writers, for example grammar, punctuation and handwriting. This makes it more difficult for teachers to ensure that pupils acquire the knowledge that they need to write fluently and accurately.

Typically, staff use their strong subject knowledge to make checks on what pupils know and remember.

They use this information to address misunderstandings that pupils have about their learning. However, on occasion staff do not address pupils' misconceptions quickly enough. When this happens, pupils move on to new learning before they are ready.

This makes it difficult for them to make connections with prior learning when they learn new content.Reading is at the heart of the curriculum. Children in early years enjoy learning about patterns of sounds in words through stories, songs and rhymes.

Pupils who are at the early stages of reading receive effective support from staff, who expertly deliver the school's phonics programme. This helps pupils to build secure phonics knowledge and to become confident and fluent readers. Pupils benefit from access to a wide range of books that spark their interests and enrich their learning.

They develop a love for reading. Older pupils speak with enthusiasm about authors, and books they particularly enjoy.

Support for pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND) is effective.

The school identifies pupils' needs quickly and puts appropriate support in place. Staff ensure that pupils with SEND work towards the same curriculum goals as their peers. A range of adaptations are in place to help pupils with SEND to achieve well.

These pupils are fully included in all aspects of school life.

Pupils enjoy coming to school, and most pupils attend regularly. The school works successfully to improve the attendance of pupils who do not attend school as regularly as they should.

Pupils behave sensibly during lessons. They listen to adults and to their classmates. Pupils work well together and have positive attitudes to their learning.

Pupils who struggle with their behaviour receive effective support from staff.

The school's offer for pupils' personal development is well designed. Pupils acquire a range of strategies to support their mental health.

As a result, pupils have an astute understanding of their own feelings and those of others. Pupils know the importance of exercise and a healthy diet. They know what qualities contribute towards a healthy relationship.

The school's work to ensure that pupils are prepared well for life in modern Britain is a strength.

The governing body understands the context of the school and it challenges the school's leaders appropriately where necessary. Leaders have an accurate understanding of the school's strengths and areas for development.

They set suitable priorities and take appropriate actions to improve further. The school considers the well-being and workload of staff when making changes to the curriculum.

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 does not set out clearly enough the knowledge and skills that pupils should learn for writing, including grammar, punctuation and handwriting. This hinders teachers from ensuring that pupils learn to write with accuracy and fluency. The school should ensure that the curriculum identifies these skills clearly and progressively so that pupils build accuracy and fluency in their writing.

• In a small number of subjects, pupils have gaps in their knowledge. This makes it difficult for them to make connections with prior learning when they learn new content. The school should ensure that teachers are suitably equipped to check what pupils know with confidence and accuracy, ensuring that gaps in pupils' learning are identified and tackled quickly.