Cubert School

Highlights from Latest Inspection

What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils feel safe and secure at Cubert School. This is because staff look after them well. Leaders promote a highly inclusive ethos.

They place an emphasis on pupils' mental health. This includes for those pupils who attend 'the nest'. The guidance they receive there helps them to overcome their anxieties or worries.

Pupils behave well. Staff have high expectations of pupils' behaviour. Pupils have positive attitudes to learning.

For example, they cooperate with each other respectfully in group activities. At social times older pupils enjoy playing with their younger peers. Pupils say that bullying does not happen.

They say that adults would resolve i...t if it did.

Nevertheless, the quality of education is not good. Leaders have made recent changes to the curriculum to make it more ambitious.

However, this work is at an early stage. As a result, in some subjects, leaders have not identified the knowledge pupils need to learn precisely and in a coherent order. Pupils do not learn as well as they should.

Pupils consider others. For example, they decided to raise money for victims of the earthquakes in Turkey and Syria. Pupils enjoy a range of clubs to pursue their talents and interests, such as hockey, coding and choir.

They develop performance skills through productions, such as 'Peter Pan'.

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

Leaders have steered the school through a difficult period. The school has experienced high levels of staff absence.

Leaders have used their time and energy to minimise disruptions to pupils' learning. Despite their best efforts, this has hampered their ability to make strategic, long-term improvements. It has unsettled some staff.

Nevertheless, all are proud to work at Cubert.

Leaders recognised that the curriculum needed alteration so that pupils, including those with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND), would learn more. However, leaders changed too many subjects too quickly.

This hindered their already limited capacity to oversee the process fully. Consequently, in some subjects, leaders have not identified how learning builds up from the early years to Year 6. They have not set out the specific knowledge that pupils need to learn.

In subjects where leaders have established a more cohesive approach, pupils learn well. For example, in mathematics, pupils recall confidently what they have learned. Older pupils use appropriate written methods to solve problems.

Children in Reception use correct language related to number. However, in the wider curriculum teachers do not provide pupils with tasks that deepen their knowledge. This is because teachers are not clear about what they want pupils to learn.

Leaders have not developed assessment sufficiently for it to be useful for teachers when planning learning. Consequently, pupils' knowledge in some subjects is weak. For example, in history, pupils struggle to recall key knowledge they have learned about the Anglo-Saxons or ancient Egypt.

Leaders prioritise reading. They have trained staff to ensure that pupils learn to read through a consistent approach. In the early years, children start learning to read straightaway.

Staff check carefully to spot pupils who fall behind. Through additional support, these pupils catch up and keep up. Teachers in the early years read regularly to children to expose them to different types of texts.

Leaders have refurbished the school library with help from funds raised by parents. They have stocked it with a range of books by different authors. This helps to promote a love of reading through the school.

Leaders ensure that all pupils learn the full range of subjects, including those with SEND. Teachers adapt the curriculum in line with pupils' individual plans. Staff closely check the support pupils receive in 'the nest' to ensure they do not miss important curriculum content.

Through the personal, social and health education curriculum, pupils learn about healthy relationships. Pupils hold leadership roles in the school, such as library and playground monitors. Visitors deepen pupils' knowledge further, such as authors and people providing talks about water safety.

In assemblies, staff celebrate pupils' achievements both in and out of school. However, the curriculum does not ensure that pupils learn about diversity well enough. As a result, pupils have a limited knowledge of faiths and cultures different to their own.

Governors know the strengths and weaknesses of the school. They check the impact of the money allocated for disadvantaged pupils. Governors know that the curriculum requires improvement.

They have supported and challenged the headteacher through a turbulent period. Governors draw upon external support as necessary.

Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.

Leaders have established a culture of vigilance to keep pupils safe. They train staff to ensure they can identify those who show potential signs of harm. Staff record even the smallest concerns diligently.

Leaders act upon these swiftly and report them to the appropriate authority if needed. They work with different agencies to ensure vulnerable families get the support they need.

Leaders have thorough systems for the recruitment of staff.

They check to ensure their suitability to work with children. Governors regularly oversee aspects of the school's safeguarding work to check it is compliant.

What does the school need to do to improve?

(Information for the school and appropriate authority)

• In some subjects, the curriculum does not identify precisely and in a coherent order the knowledge pupils need to learn.

As a result, pupils do not build secure knowledge over time. Leaders need to ensure that they precisely identify and sequence knowledge in all subjects, so that pupils from Reception to Year 6 know more and remember more. ? Teachers do not implement the wider curriculum well enough.

Assessment is not developed well enough to guide teachers in what pupils need to learn next. Too often, tasks are then not well matched to pupils' next steps. Leaders need to ensure assessment is established effectively and all learning deepens pupils' knowledge in line with curriculum.

• Leaders have not planned well enough how pupils will learn about diversity, particularly about faiths and cultures that are different to their own. Consequently, pupils' cultural knowledge is weak. Leaders need to ensure that they improve the curriculum so that it helps pupils understand faiths and cultures that are different to their own.