Corby Glen Community Primary School

Highlights from Latest Inspection

What is it like to attend this school?

Corby Glen is a small and friendly school. It has a strong family feel. Pupils are polite and courteous.

In class, pupils work well with their peers and they are enthusiastic about their learning. Everyone is made to feel welcomed and valued. Pupils told the inspectors, 'Corby Glen is an amazingly friendly school.'

Pupils feel safe and happy. Pupils say the teachers help them to keep safe, and the school site is safe and secure.

Pupils behave well.

Poor behaviour rarely disrupts learning. Pupils say bullying has happened in the past but is scarce now. Pupils trust adults will sort it out if it did happen.

Leaders and staff have high expecta...tions of pupils. They expect pupils to try hard and do their best. Pupils enjoy coming to school.

They like spending time with their friends and learning new things. Pupils show good attitudes to learning. They enjoy learning a wide range of subjects.

Pupils have a lot of opportunities to take on extra responsibilities. Pupils enjoy being part of a 'crew'. This allows pupils to share their thoughts about the school.

Members of the pupil parliament say they feel listened to by school leaders.

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

The curriculum at Corby Glen is ambitious and well organised in most subjects. Leaders have thought carefully about the knowledge they want pupils to learn in each year group.

For each subject, the curriculum plan starts with the early years and the planned knowledge that pupils will learn builds steadily through to the end of Year 6. By the time they leave Year 6, pupils have acquired enough knowledge across a range of subject to prepare them for learning at secondary school. Nevertheless, in some subjects, such as history and geography, the curriculum is less well developed.

Leaders are in the process of reviewing this.

Reading is prioritised as soon as children join the Reception Year. Staff have identified the key books they want pupils to read or hear.

The books chosen include a careful mix of traditional stories, topic-related material and texts that challenge pupils' thinking. Leaders ensure pupils have access to books that reflect diversity. Pupils enjoy talking about their favourite books and authors.

Adults teach phonics effectively. Books are well matched to the phonics that pupils know. Pupils who start to fall behind with reading quickly get extra support to catch up.

In mathematics, there is a well-sequenced approach to the teaching of this subject. Leaders have ensured that pupils have a secure knowledge of essential concepts, including number and calculation methods. This begins in the early years.

For example, children in the Reception Year were practising counting by hammering plastic nails into pumpkins and counting conkers. Leaders have ensured mathematics teaching is purposeful. For example, older pupils learned about money through organising a cake sale.

Pupils are excited about their learning, for example in science. Teachers have thought carefully about what to teach and when. The science curriculum is well sequenced.

Pupils have opportunities to work practically. For example, children in the Reception Year enjoyed learning about the natural world through planting bulbs. In lessons, teachers question pupils to check what they can recall from previous learning.

They adjust their plans to quickly address any gaps in pupils' knowledge that are identified.

Pupils enjoy their music lessons. One pupil told inspectors, 'Whenever I do music, it makes me happy.

I love singing with my friends.' The sequencing of learning in music is clear. Pupils learn and revisit important musical knowledge in order to know and remember more.

Pupils have many opportunities to perform music to different audiences. This includes taking part in festivals and concerts.

Leaders and staff identify the specific support that is required for pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND).

Teachers support their learning effectively. This means that pupils with SEND get the help they need to access the same learning as their peers. Leaders have high ambitions for pupils with SEND.

Pupils enjoy a range of wider learning opportunities beyond the classroom. They speak with enthusiasm about their enjoyment of attending school clubs. These range from music and art to sports and team building.

School leaders provide various opportunities which support pupils' spiritual, social and health development. Pupils acquire a detailed knowledge of Christianity. They show respect for those who have different faiths to their own.

However, pupils' knowledge of other faiths and cultures is not extensive.

Staff feel well supported by leaders and governors. They say that leaders consider their well-being and workload.

Governors are knowledgeable. They effectively support and challenge leaders.

Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.

Keeping children safe is a priority of the school. Staff receive regular and up-to-date safeguarding training. Effective systems and processes are in place so that leaders manage safeguarding concerns appropriately.

Staff raise concerns promptly using an online reporting system. Records show that these concerns are taken seriously. Leaders take swift action to ensure pupils are safe.

Pupils know how to keep themselves safe, including when they are online. In personal, social and health education, pupils learn how to stay safe in a range of situations. They learn, for example, about 'stranger danger', healthy relationships and water safety.

What does the school need to do to improve?

(Information for the school and appropriate authority)

• Leaders have implemented a well-sequenced and coherent curriculum across the school. Nevertheless, this is at an earlier stage of implementation in the humanities subjects. Pupils are not remembering as much of the key knowledge as in other subjects.

Leaders should ensure teachers check more closely that pupils are revisiting the key knowledge which they want them to learn, so that pupils have a deeper understanding of these subjects. ? Pupils do not have a deep understanding of a range of different faiths and cultures other than their own. Leaders and teachers do promote learning about this aspect of preparing pupils for life in modern Britain.

However, pupils are not always able to recall what they have learned. Leaders should implement their plan of ensuring that the key knowledge they want pupils to learn is taught across their curriculum offer. This will help to broaden pupils' cultural development.