Colburn Community Primary School

Highlights from Latest Inspection

What is it like to attend this school?

This is a welcoming and happy school that pupils are proud to attend.

Pupils know that they are safe here. Pupils are polite and demonstrate high levels of self-control, both in and out of the classroom. Pupils rightly say that bullying is very rare and are confident staff would deal with it effectively should it occur.

The school encourages all pupils to do their best and to achieve highly. Pupils read regularly and benefit from a wide range of reading resources. Pupils take pride in their work.

Pupils focus well on their learning and listen to advice to help them further build their knowledge.

Pupils with special educational needs and/or disabiliti...es (SEND) receive timely and effective support. This helps them to progress through the curriculum.

Children in the early years are well cared for. They benefit from a spacious and supportive place to learn. On occasions, their understanding is not as developed as well as it could be.

Pupils enjoy the trips and visits that form the basis for learning each term. These visits are linked closely to pupils' learning in the classroom. They help pupils to deepen their knowledge and understanding of the world around them.

Pupils look forward to a residential experience at the end of their time in school. All pupils have opportunities to represent the school in sporting competitions. This builds their confidence and their team skills.

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

Reading is at the core of the curriculum. Staff teach reading well. They teach phonics in a consistently effective way.

Teachers ensure that books are well matched to the sounds that pupils know. Assessment identifies where pupils need extra support and a strong catch-up offer is in place. As a result, pupils learn to read well.

In mathematics, assessment is used well to identify any gaps in pupils' learning. The school is working to close some of these gaps. Leaders have appointed staff with specialist knowledge and experience to give pupils the support that they need.

This is improving pupils' learning in mathematics.

The school's curriculum is broad and ambitious. The wider curriculum is building pupils' knowledge sequentially.

In most subjects, such as art and design, the curriculum has been carefully mapped out and pupils build their knowledge well. In some subjects, this is not consistently the case and pupils' learning is less secure. In the early years, some aspects of the curriculum are not consistently taught in ways that build children's learning with sufficient depth.

This means that children are not prepared for key stage one as well as they could be.

The school ensures that teachers successfully adapt learning activities for pupils with SEND. The school identifies the needs of these pupils well.

Specialist staff are deployed to support these pupils. The effectiveness of this support is reviewed and shared with parents each term. Staff receive training to support pupils with SEND.

Parents and carers say that communication from the school is well timed and effective. This helps pupils with SEND to learn well.

The youngest pupils are provided with a safe environment.

Staff take great care to ensure that children's individual needs are met. Parents appreciate this caring start to school life. Older pupils willingly take on leadership roles, such as being on the anti-bullying committee or helping to design the play environment.

All pupils have the opportunity to serve on the school council. Pupils take part in democratic processes to elect their representatives. The consistent routines for behaviour, and the school's focus on social and emotional development, help pupils to behave well.

All pupils are taught how to stay safe, including being safe online. Pupils know where to get help if they feel unsafe.

Pupils understand that attendance at school is essential.

The school recognises that low attendance rates have impacted on pupils' learning in the past. The analysis of attendance patterns has allowed the school to take positive steps to improve pupils' attendance. The school's actions are supporting improving attendance.

Staff talk positively about leaders' approach to managing workload. Staff value the support and range of professional development that the school provides. Governors have an accurate understanding of the school's strengths and development areas.

They understand their statutory responsibilities. Governors hold school leaders to account for continued improvements.

Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.

What does the school need to do to improve?

(Information for the school and appropriate authority)

• In some foundation subjects, important knowledge that pupils need to learn is not mapped out in manageable ways. This means that some pupils do not remember as much as they should. The school should further refine the wider curriculum so that pupils learn well across all subjects.

• The early years curriculum is not implemented consistently well across all areas of learning. This means that children are not being prepared as they could be for Year 1. The school should carry out further work to get the most from learning activities and adult interactions with children in the early years.