Crowton Christ Church CofE Primary School

Highlights from Latest Inspection

What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils are polite, well mannered and respectful. Staff create a caring and supportive learning environment. Pupils have warm, trusting relationships with adults and they feel safe in school.

They behave well. Typically, within lessons, pupils concentrate on their learning. When outside on the playground, they play games together harmoniously.

Everyone is made to feel a part of this small school community.

Pupils are proud to take on additional responsibilities in school. They are excited to be part of the school council, so that they can think about how to make improvements to the school.

Other pupils become 'junior safety officers'. They support tea...chers to improve pupils' understanding about how to stay safe, including when they are online.

The school wants the very best for pupils.

Recently, the school has made some swift improvements to the curriculum that pupils receive. For example, it is clearer what the key knowledge is that pupils need to know. However, pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND) at times do not receive effective support to access the curriculum on offer.

Furthermore, in some curriculum subjects, pupils' achievement is not as strong as it could be.

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

The school has been through a turbulent time since the previous inspection. Governors have overseen this challenging period of time to ensure that the school continued to offer an effective education while securing more robust school leadership.

This has had an impact in a few aspects of the school's provision. However, now that the school's leadership has become more secure, it has started to take the necessary steps to ensure that improvements are made with pace.

The curriculum is broad and balanced.

In some subjects, staff use their subject knowledge increasingly well. This helps them to deliver these curriculum subjects consistently. In these subjects, teachers choose with greater precision activities which match the intended curriculum.

That said, staff use the school's assessment strategies unevenly across different subjects. This includes in the early years. Where staff use assessment strategies more effectively, they pinpoint what pupils' knowledge and understanding is.

This helps teachers to ensure that pupils' knowledge is secure before moving on to new learning. However, in other subjects, teachers do not check pupils' learning effectively. Gaps in pupils' knowledge can occasionally remain in these subjects.

Where this occurs, pupils find it more difficult to build up a rich body of knowledge over time.

Pupils' writing skills are not developed well enough. In the early years, some children do not develop secure early writing skills.

Older pupils develop poor writing habits, particularly with spelling, punctuation and handwriting. Also, for some pupils, these weak writing habits persist over time. It affects pupils' ability to produce high-quality written work.

There has been a renewed focus on how the school identifies pupils with SEND. There is a greater focus on early identification. For example, staff spot children's needs in the early years swiftly.

Staff receive ongoing training to assist them with this. As a result, staff are becoming more skilled at identifying pupils with SEND. Although staff are developing their confidence in identifying pupils' needs, they are less sure about how to use different strategies effectively in the classroom to support pupils with SEND.

These pupils, therefore, do not achieve as well as they could.

Reading is a strength of the school. The school places importance on ensuring that pupils can read well.

Pupils enjoy reading. They read a wide range of literature. Children in the early years learn different rhymes, songs and poems, which supports their early reading skills.

From Reception Year, pupils follow a phonics scheme that increases their confidence and fluency in reading.

Children in the early years develop positive attitudes to school. They learn to turn take and share with each other.

This provides an important foundation for children's positive behaviour, which guides older pupils to behave well. The school uses effective strategies to promote the importance of attendance. Pupils, therefore, attend school regularly.

Pupils experience a wide range of enrichment opportunities. They understand how to keep themselves physically and mentally healthy. For example, they use the school's well-being wall to guide them to different strategies to help with this.

Pupils learn about different faiths, religions and beliefs. This helps them to gain an appreciation of life in modern Britain.

Staff are incredibly positive about their work and feel well supported, including with their workload and well-being.

The headteacher has the confidence of the entire school community. Staff recognise how the improvements made recently have enhanced pupils' education. They particularly value the training they receive to identify pupils with SEND.

Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.

What does the school need to do to improve?

(Information for the school and appropriate authority)

• Staff do not use their understanding of pupils' needs effectively enough in practice. This means that pupils with SEND occasionally do not receive the correct support needed to access the curriculum.

The school should ensure that staff implement effective strategies in the classroom to enable pupils with SEND to access the full curriculum. ? Some pupils, including some children in the early years, do not have the knowledge and skills to write effectively. They have a fragile understanding of spelling rules, punctuation and handwriting.

From time to time, they develop poor writing habits. The school should ensure that staff support pupils' understanding of different spelling, punctuation and handwriting, so they develop more positive writing habits over time. ? Staff do not use assessment strategies effectively in some subjects.

They are, therefore, not sure what pupils know and understand. As a result, staff occasionally do not identify gaps in pupils' knowledge. The school should ensure that teachers use assessment strategies more consistently across the curriculum, to help pupils build up a secure body of knowledge.