Daubeney Primary School

Highlights from Latest Inspection

What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils enjoy attending this friendly and welcoming school. They are happy and safe here.

Pupils know the 'golden expectations' and show kindness and respect to one another. Parents and carers say they feel part of a strong community. Staff take great care to get to know families well.

Parents speak very highly of the nurturing and supportive environment that staff have developed.

The school has a broad and exciting curriculum. Pupils talk with confidence and enthusiasm about their learning.

They look forward to the many opportunities to further enhance their learning, including subject 'wow' days and taking part in trips and performances. Many pupils... learn musical instruments and compete in local sporting tournaments. This includes pupils with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND), who achieve well during their time at the school.

Relationships between pupils and staff are positive. Staff have high expectations of all pupils. Pupils know they will get the support they need to achieve.

Many pupils experience being junior ambassadors and work alongside staff to help make improvements to their school. This includes the mental health ambassadors, who help to deliver assemblies. There are plenty of opportunities for outdoor learning and active play.

Pupils in Years 3 to 6 support others to use the play equipment safely.

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

The school has developed many aspects of the curriculum since the last inspection. This has been done with support from the federation and the local authority.

Staff have welcomed this input. A supportive professional culture has been embedded among staff, which has helped drive forward improvements.

Pupils are taught a broad and balanced curriculum that meets the requirements nationally.

The curriculum is well sequenced and builds towards clearly defined end points. For example, in geography, children begin learning geographical skills in Nursery and Reception in preparation for learning about compass points in Years 1 and 2. By Year 6, pupils can use Ordnance Survey maps and topographical maps with confidence.

This helps to prepare them for learning in secondary school.

The school is ambitious for all pupils' learning. Staff are skilled at identifying pupils with additional needs and support is carefully tailored to meet those needs.

Pupils with SEND learn alongside their peers. Leaders have a plan in place to ensure that disadvantaged pupils are helped to make good progress.

Teachers use a range of approaches to check pupils' learning.

They set tasks that encourage pupils to think deeply about a topic and use questioning to check pupils' understanding. In some lessons, however, the teaching activities chosen are not as tightly matched to the intended learning as they could be.

Pupils attend well.

They are typically focused and engaged in lessons and behaviour does not disrupt learning. Pupils can talk about what they have learned and enjoy doing so. Staff are warm and encouraging and this helps less confident pupils to develop as they move up the school.

The school, as part of the Federation, has designed a new phonics programme. All staff are trained to use the programme and receive ongoing support. From the start of Reception, teachers model sounds and blending well and children quickly become familiar with the routines.

Children enjoy singing songs and rhymes and these help them to remember sounds. Books are carefully matched to pupils' reading levels and parents are encouraged and supported to help with reading at home. Pupils who struggle with their reading are quickly identified and given additional support.

Sometimes, in phonics sessions, the focus is not as tight as it could be and pupils' attention wanders. This means that the progress of some pupils is slower.

The nursery environment is lively and enticing.

Staff are skilled in developing children's communication through activities and interactions. Children are helped to develop independence and to care for themselves. For example, they use the 'dressing-up corner' to practise putting on clothes and using buttons and zips.

There are many and varied opportunities for learning outdoors and developing children's physical skills.

The school has a calm and purposeful atmosphere. Pupils are helpful and courteous.

Bullying rarely happens and staff respond swiftly if it does. Pupils have a strong understanding of British values. Diversity and inclusion are celebrated across the school.

Pupils in all year groups are given highly effective support to help with their social and emotional development. In Years 1 to 3, the school provides targeted support to a higher-than-average number of pupils with additional needs. This helps those pupils to develop the skills and confidence they need to access learning in the classroom.

Parents spoke highly of these interventions and leaders are rightly proud of the positive outcomes for pupils.

Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.

What does the school need to do to improve?

(Information for the school and appropriate authority)

• Sometimes, tasks are not sufficiently matched to the subject content that pupils are learning.

This means that some opportunities for pupils to apply their learning are missed. The school should ensure that tasks are closely aligned to what is being taught, so that pupils have opportunities to embed what they have learned in their long-term memory. Some weaker readers, particularly those with complex SEND, do not consistently remember the sounds that they have been taught.

This is because teaching activities are not as focused as they should be on pupils' learning. As a result, these pupils do not make as much progress as they could in learning to read. The school should ensure that these pupils have sufficient opportunities for more focused practice in sounding and blending and secure their knowledge before moving on.

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