Cranmere Primary School

Highlights from Latest Inspection

Outcome

Cranmere Primary School continues to be a good school.

What is it like to attend this school?

Leaders aspire for every pupil at Cranmere to achieve well, enjoy school and be well prepared for the future. The school is a happy learning community and there is a strong sense of teamwork.

In lessons and around school, pupils behave well and get on well together. Pupils are respectful of each other and their teachers. They describe their school as friendly, welcoming and fun.

Pupils like the way that everyone is valued. They are full of enthusiasm for learning and thoroughly enjoy coming to school. Pupils appreciate the school's 6Rs: 'Responsibility, Resourcefulness, Reflective...ness, Reasoning, Respectful and Resilient.'

They say these make the school a better place and help everyone to be kind and behave well. Pupils love the way they can get involved in helping around the school by taking on extra responsibilities. They enjoy the many after-school clubs and activities.

As one pupil commented, 'There is always something going on.'

Bullying is not a problem and the occasional fall out is sorted out quickly. Pupils feel safe at school and say that their teachers are kind and always there to support them.

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

Leaders communicate an ambitious vision for all pupils at Cranmere. The school is highly inclusive, and everyone is valued and welcomed. Pupils get a good grounding in English and mathematics.

In these subjects, and in science, there is a clear sequence of learning. This contributes to pupils' good achievement in these areas of learning.

Phonics and early reading are taught well.

Children get off to a great start in reading in the early years. Story times are engaging, and teachers foster a love of reading. Teachers quickly notice if any pupils are finding things tricky and regularly recap sounds to 'help learning stick'.

If any pupils are not keeping up, leaders organise extra support. Most books are well matched to pupils' reading skills. However, occasionally reading books are beyond some pupils' understanding.

This means that sometimes pupils guess at words rather than using their reading skills. Leaders are aware of this and are already addressing this shortcoming.

The school's attractive book areas reflect the priority leaders give to reading.

Leaders have recently improved resources. They have also adapted the school's approach to both reading and writing. Whole books are now studied for longer periods to enable pupils to learn in-depth about their features, vocabulary and structures.

Key knowledge and skills are sequenced carefully and re-visited to help pupils remember what they have learned. Pupils enjoy learning about different texts, authors and genres. One pupil explained that 'books open up new worlds and give you a different viewpoint'.

When writing, pupils like the chance to express their ideas and be imaginative.

Leaders have designed an interesting, broad curriculum. They capitalise on meaningful links between subjects and make sure that the content is interesting.

However, in a few subjects, including history and geography, the curriculum is not as well planned as it could be. Leaders have not considered the key knowledge pupils will learn over time. There are sometimes long gaps of time when subjects are not taught.

This means that pupils find it hard to remember and build on their previous learning. As a result, their knowledge and understanding are insecure.

Teaching is lively and engaging.

Teachers are knowledgeable, pose interesting questions and involve pupils well in discussions. They have high expectations of behaviour and expect pupils to give of their best. Pupils like the way their teachers let them know how well they are doing.

The school provides well for pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND). Leaders and teachers have a strong understanding of pupils' needs. Additional help is carefully planned and supports pupils with SEND well, academically and socially.

The school's wide-ranging array of clubs contributes well to pupils' personal development. Exciting visits enhance the curriculum and pupils hold special memories of these experiences. The life-skills curriculum helps pupils to learn about respect, tolerance and diversity.

Pupils' positive attitudes and good behaviour support them in learning well.

Governors share leaders' ambition and commitment for all pupils to thrive. They use their good knowledge of the school to inform their strategic planning.

Staff feel well supported by leaders who consider their well-being. Parents hold the school in high regard and the vast majority of parents have nothing but praise. They appreciate the school's nurturing ethos and leaders' approachability and visibility.

As one parent explained, 'I couldn't be happier.'

Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.

Pupils' well-being is a high priority at Cranmere.

The school provides a raft of early help and support for pupils and their families. When needed, the headteacher refers concerns to the local authority. She ensures that other agencies respond promptly to any referrals so that pupils are supported and kept safe.

Teachers receive regular training to keep them up to date with procedures. They know that safeguarding is everyone's responsibility.

Pupils feel safe and well cared for.

The school's life-skills curriculum helps pupils to learn how to keep themselves safe, including when online.

What does the school need to do to improve?

(Information for the school and appropriate authority)

The content of some foundation subjects, such as history and geography, is not sequenced well, and the end points are not clearly enough defined. Consequently, pupils' understanding is insecure, and they do not achieve as well as they could in these subjects.

Leaders need to make sure the curriculum plans for all subjects contain the knowledge and important concepts that pupils should know and the order in which they should learn these. It is clear from leaders' plans that they are in the process of bringing this about.

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 a section 8 inspection of a good school or non-exempt outstanding school. We do not give graded judgements on a section 8 inspection. However, if we find some evidence that the school could now be better than good or that standards may be declining then the next inspection will be a section 5 inspection.

Usually this is within one to two years of the date of the section 8 inspection. If we have serious concerns about safeguarding, behaviour or the quality of education, we will convert the section 8 inspection to a section 5 inspection immediately.

This is the second section 8 inspection since we judged the school to be good in November 2011.

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