Cookley Sebright Primary School

Highlights from Latest Inspection

What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils learn well at Cookley Sebright Primary School. Leaders have high expectations for what all pupils, including those with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND), can achieve. Parents and carers appreciate this.

Pupils get off to a good start in the early years, and follow a wide-ranging, ambitious curriculum. Learning moves smoothly from one key stage to the next. Pupils especially enjoy practical activities such as filtering pond water in geography lessons.

They quickly come to be competent and enthusiastic readers.

Adults forge warm relationships with pupils. Pupils benefit from a high standard of pastoral care.

The school takes ...effective steps to help them learn about their mental health. Pupils learn about traditions and cultures beyond their own.

There is a calm and purposeful atmosphere in classrooms and corridors.

Pupils behave very well in lessons. At social times, they play happily together. Pupils know there is always an adult to turn to who can resolve any issues.

This helps all pupils to feel safe.

Pupils have several opportunities to take responsibility and to help others, as house captains or 'well-being warriors', for example. They take part in a wide range of extra-curricular activities, including several sports, Latin, gardening and farming.

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

The school ensures that learning to read is a high priority. Pupils follow a structured phonics programme from Nursery onwards. Pupils learn sounds and letters in a logical order.

Staff use the programme's resources in a consistent way. The school makes sure that pupils read frequently to an adult. Staff check on what each pupil knows and can do.

Pupils who find reading more difficult are supported well to keep up. Books for younger pupils are well matched to their phonics knowledge. Across the school, pupils read widely, and appreciate the revamped school library.

Pupils study all the subjects in the national curriculum. In each subject, leaders have identified the most important knowledge for pupils to learn. They have planned the curriculum carefully, breaking learning down into manageable steps.

These steps help pupils to build new knowledge on what they already know. On a day-to-day basis, teachers ensure that they implement the curriculum as intended. They make sure that pupils learn the key vocabulary in each unit of work.

Across all subjects, teachers help pupils to use their literacy and numeracy skills effectively, for instance, to interpret graphs correctly in geography.

Teachers have good subject knowledge. They present information clearly and use resources effectively.

In general, teachers assess learning well, for example by asking questions of specific pupils in class. At times, however, a few gaps in pupils' learning are missed. Sometimes, teachers do not review the key knowledge pupils most need to be secure in their knowledge in the longer term.

The school identifies the additional needs of pupils with SEND precisely and promptly. Staff are expert in ensuring that these pupils' needs are met. As a result, pupils with SEND make very good progress across the full curriculum.

In particular, the school has addressed effectively the additional speech, language and communication needs of some children in the early years.

The school has high expectations for pupils' behaviour, which are well understood and applied consistently. From the early years onwards, pupils follow established routines.

They have a noticeable enthusiasm for their work, and this helps to ensure that disruption to learning is rare. Pupils' attendance has risen year-on-year, and is currently in line with the national average. Nevertheless, the number of vulnerable pupils who are persistently absent remains too high.

Pupils follow a planned programme of social and personal education. This teaches pupils about healthy relationships and how to keep themselves safe. Older pupils are articulate and considerate, happy to help others as librarians or play leaders.

The school has taken important steps to widen pupils' social and cultural knowledge. Activities, including visits to places of worship and global arts experiences, help pupils to learn about a breadth of cultures and traditions.

This is an inclusive school, with a strong commitment to all its pupils.

Leaders have tackled the issues raised at the last inspection with determination and good judgement, working well with parents and carers and the local community. The school has provided effective training for staff, including in the leadership of curriculum subjects. Everyone works together as a team, and there is a shared commitment to improving the school further.

Staff believe that leaders are considerate of their workload and always ready to listen to their views. Governors provide particularly effective oversight of the school.

Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.

What does the school need to do to improve?

(Information for the school and appropriate authority)

• Sometimes pupils' learning is not checked carefully enough. This means that gaps in knowledge are sometimes missed, and teaching is not adapted to help pupils secure their learning. The school should ensure that pupils' knowledge is consistently and precisely checked, and, where needed, these gaps are addressed in subsequent learning.

• Too many pupils, including several who are disadvantaged, are persistently absent. As a result, they miss out on important continuity of learning and many personal and social development opportunities. The school should ensure its ongoing work with parents focuses more closely on reducing the number of persistently absent pupils.