Cotford St Luke Primary School

Highlights from Latest Inspection

Outcome

There has been no change to this school's overall judgement of good as a result of this ungraded (section 8) inspection.

However, the evidence gathered suggests that the inspection grade might not be as high if a graded (section 5) inspection were carried out now. The school's next inspection will be a graded inspection.

What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils are happy and proud of their school.

They view Cotford St Luke Primary School as a place where staff care about them and know them well. All pupils are included in all aspects of school life. Older pupils value helping younger pupils at lunchtimes as well as during 'buddy reading' sessions.

Pupils are ...polite and respectful. They feel safe and know adults will help them if they have any concerns. Bullying is well understood by pupils.

Peer mediators are trained to help support any conflict. Incidents are rare. However, some pupils and parents think issues could be resolved more swiftly.

The school has worked on the design of the curriculum to promote high expectations for all pupils. However, this work is in the early stages. The curriculum does not yet support pupils to build their knowledge well enough across all subjects.

Pupils enjoy a range of opportunities to develop their talents, such as gymnastics and football club. They appreciate pupil leadership roles, including house captains and school council members. They know they make a difference to their school.

For example, school council members are currently raising money for new playground equipment.

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

The school is determined for pupils to succeed. It has worked on developing the curriculum to identify and sequence the knowledge it wants pupils to learn.

In some subjects, such as mathematics, the precise knowledge the school wants pupils to know and remember is mapped out clearly. This starts in the early years. For example, the children in Nursery enjoy listening to 'Goldilocks and the Three Bears' to deepen their understanding of numbers up to three.

However, in some other subjects, the curriculum design does not make clear the precise knowledge pupils need to learn. It does not yet help pupils deepen their understanding over time. As a result, pupils do not learn as well across all subjects.

Teachers use strategies to help pupils learn. These include opportunities for pupils to practise new learning that builds on prior learning. For example, in mathematics, pupils have an 'initial task' that recaps what they have learned before.

This helps pupils to embed new knowledge. However, teachers do not use assessment across all subjects well enough to check what pupils know and remember. As a result, some pupils have gaps in their knowledge.

This stalls progress for pupils.

Pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND) are included in all aspects of school life. However, these pupils and their needs are not identified quickly enough.

Adaptations to learning are not always in place to enable these pupils to learn well alongside their peers. As a result, some pupils with SEND do not get all the support they need to keep up or catch up.

The school promotes a culture of reading.

This starts in the early years, where children enjoy a range of books. They choose books with their parents from the class library to take home and read together. The new phonics scheme is helping pupils learn to read.

Staff receive the training they need to teach the scheme effectively. Pupils read books that match the sounds they know. This helps them to become confident readers.

However, a small group of older pupils do not get all the support they need to grasp the basics of reading. Gaps in the phonics code are not addressed quickly enough. Consequently, these pupils find it harder to access the curriculum.

Pupils know the school routines well. This begins in the early years, where children settle in well. Most pupils across the school show positive attitudes to their learning.

The school is starting to put support in place to help pupils with the most challenging behaviour. However, it is still early days and the number of suspensions remain high.

Pupils are supported well to develop beyond the academic curriculum.

They are taught how to keep themselves safe both online and in the wider world. Pupils know the importance of keeping healthy and eating a balanced diet. They learn about differences and protected characteristics.

As a result, they are inclusive of each other, and they know the importance of treating people fairly.

All staff are proud to work at this school. They value the consideration of well-being and workload from leaders and governors.

Staff benefit from training, such as from the English hub, to support the teaching of 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 school has not identified and sequenced the essential knowledge it wants pupils to know and remember over time in some subjects.

As a result, pupils have gaps in their knowledge and find it hard to remember their learning. The school must ensure that the precise knowledge it wants pupils to learn is identified and sequenced and that assessment is used effectively to check that pupils are learning the curriculum well. ? The school has not ensured that pupils with SEND are identified swiftly enough.

As a result, these pupils do not benefit from the early support they need to help them catch up, including when learning to read. The school must ensure that pupils' needs are identified and check that they receive the support they need to learn. ? Support for those pupils with challenging behaviour has not been effective in reducing the number of suspensions.

As a result, these remain too high and pupils are not getting the support they need. The school needs to analyse the cause of poor behaviour and put effective support in place to reduce suspensions.

Background

When we have judged a school to be good, we will then normally go into the school about once every four years to confirm that the school remains good.

This is called an ungraded inspection, and it is carried out under section 8 of the Education Act 2005. We do not give graded judgements on an ungraded inspection. However, if we find evidence that a school would now receive a higher or lower grade, then the next inspection will be a graded inspection, which is carried out under section 5 of the Act.

Usually this is within one to two years of the date of the ungraded inspection. If we have serious concerns about safeguarding, behaviour or the quality of education, we will deem the ungraded inspection a graded inspection immediately.

This is the first ungraded inspection since we judged the school to be good in April 2018.

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