Coxley Primary School

Highlights from Latest Inspection

What is it like to attend this school?

Relationships between adults and pupils are warm and caring. Pupils enjoy coming to school. Leaders help develop pupils' character by teaching them the school's values, such as respect and resilience.

Pupils know and understand these values.

Classrooms are calm and purposeful. There is a positive attitude towards learning that is shown by all.

Pupils are respectful of each other and their teachers. Pupils behave well because of leaders' high expectations. There are clear rules and routines for pupils to follow.

This helps to them to feel safe.

Leaders expect pupils, including those with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND), t...o achieve well. However, pupils do not experience a sufficiently well-designed curriculum as it remains underdeveloped.

Leaders have not identified the essential knowledge that pupils need to learn. As a result, pupils do not learn as well as they should.

After-school clubs, such as those for astronomy, rounders and athletics, help broaden pupils' experiences and develop their talents and interests.

Pupils enjoy street dance and didgeridoo club. They perform at local festivals and concerts. Older pupils talked fondly about a recent trip to London where they visited many famous landmarks and watched a theatre show.

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

The school's previous Ofsted inspection, which took place in May 2022, identified concerns about the quality of education that pupils were receiving. Leaders have made some improvements to the wider curriculum to meet pupils' learning needs. They have overhauled what is being taught, particularly in subjects such as history and art and design.

However, leaders have not carried out these changes with enough rigour, and many curriculum areas are incomplete. Leaders have not decided on the important knowledge that children need to learn.

Where the curriculum is more established, such as in English and mathematics, pupils have a secure understanding of what they have learned.

This content is organised in a logical order. Pupils have opportunities to build on what they have already learned. This includes pupils with SEND.

Leaders are quick to identify and respond to the additional needs of pupils with SEND. Staff successfully make adaptations to their teaching. This means that pupils with SEND learn well alongside their peers.

Where leaders' curriculum design is new or not in place, assessment practices are weak. Staff do not have a secure understanding of how well pupils have learned the content in these subjects. This means that pupils' misconceptions are not always addressed, and some gaps in pupils' knowledge remain.

The early years provision is a strength of the school. Leaders have created a purposeful curriculum and know what they want the children to learn and remember. Children build up their knowledge across all areas of learning and are ready to move into Year 1.

For example, in mathematics, children can quickly recognise quantities of small groups of objects without counting.

Reading is a priority. Children in early years begin learning to read as soon as they start school.

Staff ensure that all pupils receive phonics teaching that meets their needs. Books match the sounds that pupils know. Pupils can use their phonic knowledge to sound out unfamiliar words.

This means that they learn how to read with accuracy. Engaging reading areas in classrooms enthuse pupils. Older children read fluently and enjoy a wide range of books.

Pupils appreciate having wider opportunities that they otherwise would not have. The curriculum for personal, social and health education has been carefully designed to ensure that pupils learn important content at the right time. By Year 6, pupils have a deep understanding of fundamental British values and can link these to their own lives and experiences.

Pupils enjoy contributing to the life of the school. For example, they are keen to act as well-being ambassadors, where they support each other with mental health.

Governors support the well-being of the headteacher and staff at the school.

Leaders, including governors, take account of workload when making decisions about improving the school. Staff say that leaders create an atmosphere where everyone is valued and supported. However, governors do not have an accurate view of how well pupils learn in subjects across the wider curriculum.

This means that they are not able to hold leaders to account to ensure that improving the quality of education is a priority.

Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.

Leaders ensure that there are systems in the school to keep pupils safe.

Staff know the pupils and their families well. All staff have received training and know how to recognise that pupils are at risk of harm. Leaders follow up these concerns quickly.

They work with outside agencies to ensure that pupils get the right support. They check on the suitability of staff to work with pupils.

Pupils learn to keep safe when online and they know that there are adults they can talk to about any concerns they have.

What does the school need to do to improve?

(Information for the school and appropriate authority)

• In some of the wider curriculum subjects, leaders have not identified the important knowledge that they want pupils to know over time. This means that pupils do not build a deep understanding of these subjects. Leaders need to ensure that all subjects identify the precise knowledge and skills pupils need to learn and revisit as they progress through the school.

• Leaders are in the initial stages of refining assessment in subjects other than English and mathematics. They do not precisely understand how well pupils are learning the curriculum over time. Leaders need to strengthen the current assessment arrangements so that they are more knowledgeable about the impact the curriculum is having on pupils' learning.

• Governors do not have a sufficient depth of understanding of the quality of education pupils receive. Over time, they have not challenged leaders sufficiently about subjects across the wider curriculum. Governors need to ensure that they gain a clear oversight of the effectiveness of the quality of education and hold leaders rigorously to account for improving it.