Dingle Community Primary School

Highlights from Latest Inspection

What is it like to attend this school?

Pupils enjoy attending Dingle Community Primary School.

Staff help them to keep safe and healthy. Pupils know who to speak to if they are worried about anything. They are polite and well-mannered, and relationships between staff and pupils are respectful.

The school is ambitious for what pupils can achieve academically and beyond. However, pupils are not supported to achieve as well as they could across some parts of the curriculum. As a result, pupils are not prepared as well as they should be for the next phase of their education.

Pupils move calmly and safely around school and follow the behaviour rules of 'Be ready, be respectful and be safe'. They play w...ell together on the playground and work well together in lessons. They talk excitedly of the opportunities they have to take responsibility, including being sports leaders, librarians and school councillors.

They value the different clubs and activities on offer to them, with many of the school community attending at least one extra-curricular club, such as dance, choir or football.

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

The school has very recently had a change in leadership. New leaders have already begun to take decisive actions to improve the school.

This includes starting to improve early reading. The school has an ambitious vision for improvement. Staff are positive about working at the school, and parents and carers say that the new leadership team is already making the school a better place.

However, the school has not yet embedded the new systems that have been introduced.

Reading has become a renewed priority in the school. The teaching of phonics and checks on pupils' phonics knowledge are now in place.

Books are better matched to the sounds that pupils are learning. For those who struggle to keep up, support is now happening. However, some staff do not have the expertise to deliver the phonics programme effectively.

While systems to teach reading effectively are now in place, much of this is new and has not had sufficient time to impact positively on how well pupils read.

The school's curriculum, including in the early years, is not designed well enough. The school has not identified the key knowledge and skills it wants pupils to develop in all subjects.

This means that, in lessons, teachers do not know which knowledge to prioritise. Nor are they clear about intended outcomes for pupils at the end of a unit of work. In subjects where the knowledge has been identified more precisely, lessons are more successful in supporting pupils to know and remember more.

For example, in physical education, pupils can accurately demonstrate a range of gymnastics and dance skills. They can explain how teachers have helped them to improve.

Teachers' delivery of the curriculum is not consistent.

The checks that teachers make on pupils' understanding are not always precise enough. Consequently, some misconceptions are not identified or addressed. This is the same for children in the early years and for those with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND).

Staff have some understanding of the barriers to learning and use different resources well to overcome these. However, some pupils' misconceptions persist and learning gaps emerge.

Pupils with SEND have their needs identified quickly, and the school provides a sensory hub and nurture provision where a calm approach is used to help them learn.

However, the reading curriculum for these pupils is not delivered as successfully as it should be. As a result, pupils with SEND do not achieve as well as they might.

The school has clear systems to track pupils' attendance.

It responds quickly to remove any barriers to good attendance. As a result, pupils attend frequently and punctually. Pupils behave well.

Children in the early years have settled well into routines and are confident to speak to other adults. Staff analyse behaviour incidents and adopt a restorative approach where pupils are encouraged to find ways to make things right. Some pupils benefit from spending time in the nurture room.

It helps them to form positive relationships with their peers.

The school has prioritised pupils' personal development. Pupils learn important skills of leadership through the various roles they hold.

This includes being a 'planet captain'. Pupils know how to keep themselves safe online. They have respectful attitudes to difference and diversity.

The school enriches pupils' experiences through a rich offer of educational visits and wider opportunities.

Safeguarding

The arrangements for safeguarding are effective.

What does the school need to do to improve?

(Information for the school and appropriate authority)

• The phonics programme is not delivered consistently well.

This means that pupils do not develop good fluency in their reading as quickly as they should. The school should ensure that teachers introduce new sounds to pupils in an effective way with all staff trained appropriately. ? The school has not designed the curriculum in some subjects with sufficient specificity and progression, including in the early years.

Key knowledge to be taught has not been identified. As a result, pupils and children in the early years, including those with SEND, do not build their knowledge and skills in some subjects effectively over time. The school should ensure that the key knowledge and intended curriculum progression is identified in all subjects and used to inform teaching so pupils achieve well.

• The school does not ensure that teachers' assessments of pupils' learning are as effective as they could be in informing next steps. As a result, misconceptions can arise and not be dealt with, preventing pupils from progressing well in their learning.The school should ensure that teachers are more specific in the checks they make on pupils' learning so that any misconceptions that arise can be dealt with swiftly.

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