Cotford St Luke Primary School

Highlights from Latest Inspection

What is it like to attend this school?

Cotford St Luke is a friendly school. The school values encourage pupils to appreciate, believe and challenge.

The school has raised its expectations of what pupils can achieve. Published outcomes are now broadly in line with national average for many areas of the curriculum. However, some pupils are not developing the necessary knowledge and skills they need to be successful in their next steps.

Pupils feel happy at school and enjoy their learning. Parents and carers praise the care and nurture that staff provide to their child. In lessons, pupils listen well to staff and work positively with their peers.

However, in less structured times, some pupils displa...y challenging and disruptive behaviours. This also includes some children in the early years. Despite this, most pupils feel safe in school.

Pupils benefit from a wide extra-curricular offer. This includes a range of clubs such as gymnastics, archery, chess and dodgeball. Pupils speak enthusiastically about trips and visits.

For example, visiting a museum, going to the theatre to watch a pantomime or taking part in a residential trip. These broaden pupils' experiences and develop their independence. Older pupils are proud to take on roles of responsibility.

Many are peer mediators or members of the school council.

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

Following the previous inspection, the school has worked tirelessly to make improvements to many aspects of the school. These include increasing pupils' attendance and tackling the weaknesses in the quality of the curriculum.

However, there remains a lot to do. Many changes are in the early stages of implementation, so have not had the impact required.

Pupils learn a broad and ambitious curriculum.

The needs of pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND) are identified quickly. They learn alongside their peers, with adaptations made by staff as appropriate. Across most subjects, the knowledge that pupils learn is carefully considered.

Staff receive training to develop their subject knowledge. For example, in mathematics, staff confidently use mathematical terminology in their explanations to pupils.

The quality of teaching varies in how well it supports pupils' learning.

The poor quality of the outdoor provision in the Reception Year disadvantages children, limiting their opportunities to develop their gross motor skills meaningfully. Across the school, staff do not make precise enough checks on pupils' understanding. They do not consistently use the information about what pupils know and remember to plan the next steps.

As a result, many pupils continue to struggle with long-standing gaps in their knowledge.

The school prioritises reading, helping pupils to become confident and fluent readers. From the moment the children start in the Nursery Year, staff support the development of children's speech and language.

As children move into the Reception Year, they follow a phonics programme that builds their knowledge of letter sounds. Well-trained staff identify when pupils need additional help with reading, ensuring they catch up quickly and achieve success.

Staff build positive relationships with pupils.

Children in the early years show good levels of concentration. They learn how to share successfully. For example, they take turns with using the trains on the toy track.

However, sometimes staff do not have high enough expectations for how pupils should conduct themselves. At times, the school do not consistently apply consequences following incidents of behaviour or record them in sufficient detail.

The wider development of pupils is an area of strength for the school.

Pupils are knowledgeable about how to keep themselves safe online and in the community. They show a mature understanding of the protected characteristics and why these are important for a tolerant society. The school encourages pupils to be aspirational about their future career paths.

For example, female scientists visit the school and speak to pupils about how the curriculum is important in their job. Other visitors, such as a police dog handler, supports pupils' understanding of community.

Staff are proud to work at the school.

They support the headteacher and welcome the changes that have been made to improve the school. Staff say that leaders are considerate of their well-being and prioritise reducing their workload.

Governors are positive about the progress that the school has made.

They fulfil their statutory responsibilities. However, in some aspects of the school's work, governors do not have the knowledge or expertise needed to provide robust oversight, strategic direction and challenge to leaders about the impact of their actions.

Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.

However, leaders cannot always access the information that they need quickly. There is inconsistency in how staff record concerns. On occasion, the chronology of actions taken is unclear.

Governors do not have an accurate enough oversight of safeguarding at the school. That said, while the school's record-keeping is not as detailed as it should be, vulnerable pupils are kept safe. This is because the safeguarding team acts promptly on the information it is given.

The team readily liaises with external agencies to ensure that vulnerable pupils and their families get the support that they need. There is an established safeguarding culture in the school. Staff receive regular training and are up to date in their knowledge of government guidance.

What does the school need to do to improve?

(Information for the school and appropriate authority)

• Some teaching does not check pupils' understanding of the curriculum carefully enough. This results in staff not addressing gaps in pupils' knowledge before they move on to new concepts. The school should ensure that assessment is used effectively in all subjects and that leaders have sufficient oversight of the impact on pupils.

• Staff's expectations of behaviour are not consistent across the school. Incidents of challenging behaviour occur too often and are at times not dealt with appropriately. Therefore, some poor behaviour continues to disrupt school life.

The school needs to embed its behaviour policy, and ensure it is fully understood by all stakeholders, so that standards of behaviour improve. ? Some of the school's record-keeping is not robust enough. Most significantly, the actions, decisions and outcomes of incidents around behaviour and safeguarding are not always recorded clearly.

Governors do not currently have an accurate oversight of this. In addition, this information is not stored in an accessible and logical way. The school must work urgently to ensure that systems and processes are improved.

• Children in the Reception Year have limited access to meaningful activities in their outdoor provision. Therefore, they have less opportunity to develop their gross motor skills. The school should ensure that the outdoor provision is purposeful so children can develop the skills they need to support their development.

• Governors do not provide robust challenge to the school. They are not sufficiently assured about the impact of the school's work around safeguarding or on improving pupils' behaviour. Governors should ensure that they gather the necessary information to carry out their strategic work and challenge leaders effectively.

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